I firmly believe that somewhere in my history I am related to at least one of the great explorers of history. I get too excited about adventures and learning about new places for this not to be the case. And, I know that the rest of my family is affected by this as well. We love to go explore.
I remember one day, while we lived on Guam, we decided that we wanted to check out the parts of the island that were, shall we say, less traveled than others. Now, for those of you who do not know much about Guam, let me first say that you’re not missing much. There is not much to know about it. The entire island is smaller than the county in Texas in which I was born. It’s tiny, and there are only so many roads and trails you can have on a tiny island. But, that being said, we loved it. We would go on these treks called boony stomps. The boonies were what the locals called the jungle areas; these boony stomps were hiking trails that you could take to get to secluded beaches. I have to tell you, they are some of the most breathtaking beaches I’ve ever seen. Even though I was young, my 6 and 7 year-old self still logged away the images of the waves and the sand and the fish that would swim right up to you. These boony stomps were always great adventures and wonderful times spent together as a family, and I absolutely loved them.
The morning of our adventure, Dad woke Korey and I up and told us that we were going to a new beach today and asked if we were ready for some fun. We got in the car and started off. Now, Dad’s directions to this boony stomp location had been given to him orally by one of the locals who spoke broken English at best. And Dad, who claims like me to have been born with an innate sense of direction, got us lost. We ended up driving on a “road” that looked like it had been made by horse-drawn buggies a few decades ago and then had been left unmaintained since. And the worse part? The “road” was on a ledge that traveled around the side of a cliff. It was barely big enough to fit our car, and even though we knew that we were going to the wrong way and needed to turn around, there was absolutely no place to do so.
Finally, after driving slowly and carefully, inch-by-inch down this road, we came to an iron gate with a no trespassing sign on it. We were on a literally one-lane, narrow road with a fence in front of us, sheer rock wall to our lefts, and a sheer drop to our right. I was terrified, Korey was oblivious, and Mom was asleep! And Dad looked like he always did to my six-year-old self: tall, strong, and determined.
Dad looked back at me and said in his super hero voice, “Alright, Buddy. We’re gonna go backwards now.”
Backwards. Down a road that seemingly one minor mis-turn of the steering wheel could have us plummeting to our doom.
He obviously saw the fear in my eyes, because he immediately stopped smiling, looked me steadily in the eyes, and said, “Son, be strong for me. I need you to be strong.” His words somehow gave me the courage I needed, and I calmed down and decided to trust Dad to see us safely back on the main road.
I couldn’t help but think of this story when I read this week’s chapter in The Story. The phrase that comes up over and over again in the first part of this chapter is “Be strong and courageous.” When God is speaking to Joshua, God says it multiple times, as if to calm Joshua down and remind him that God is in charge and that he doesn’t have anything to worry about. All he has to do is trust in God. And then, when Joshua is speaking to the Israelites, he repeats the same thing to them. It seams that in the face of overwhelming odds, in the face of armies and nations that would all be pitted against them, the Israelites were once again thinking that maybe they should have just stayed in Egypt.
They needed that reminder to be strong and courageous; to trust in God and not be discouraged for the Lord is with them wherever they go.
Have you ever been in a place like that? Have you ever needed that reminder from God or from someone sent by God—that reminder to be strong and courageous? I think if we are honest with ourselves, we can easily think of times where we have needed to hear that, times when it seems like all hope is gone, times when we are scared and thinking about quitting.
Jess is starting seminary at Philadelphia Lutheran Theological Seminary in the fall. We’ve spent the last 8 months or so trying to get everything ready and figured out for us to both be going to school at the same time while both working at the same time as well. It’s been stressful, and there have definitely been roadblocks along the way. The latest ended up with her registering as a full-time student because of some problems with the office of financial aide. We struggled for a long time on whether we could really both go to school full time and still make enough money to pay the bills and get by, but in the end, we both really felt like this was what God was calling her to do, so God would make it work. It’s not going to be easy, but it’ll work itself out, and we’ll both be better off for it.
In that moment of uncertainty, though, when we didn’t know what was going on or whether Jess would be able to go to school at all this year, we both needed to hear that voice of God, reminding us to be strong and courageous, to not be terrified or discouraged for the Lord our God is with us wherever we go and whatever we do.
And we did, from two different people, and it was a wonderful thing.
So when you find yourself in a moment of fear and discouragement, remember the story of Joshua and the Israelites, and remember the words of God calling you to be strong and courageous. And may those words of power and comfort be what you need to carry on.
Because God’s hand delivered the Israelites from every army they came up against while they were following God’s words. I lived through the scary car ride to that boony stomp by trusting that my dad could see us through. Jess worked out her school stuff and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds.
So be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. God will not leave you nor forsake you, and in Him you will find the strength you need to overcome any obstacle.
Amen.
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