“As you see, the LORD has kept me alive these 45 years as He promised, since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.”
Joshua 14:10-11
I am running behind this week. I’m trying to recoup after a week-long trip to Guatemala and Honduras. It was my first international coverage in two years. Of the members of the media team, I was the oldest.
At age 50, I was a little worried about keeping up with a team younger than me. I knew it would be a physically demanding coverage that would involve at least some hiking. The team leader had assured the worker there that we were all “reasonably fit” and capable of hiking. When I heard this, I had flashbacks of our family’s summer hike in the Smokies — the one where I thought they were going to have to carry me out on a stretcher.
So, when the hiking began in Guatemala on the second day, I simply told myself, “Take it slowly.” As it turned out, everyone else was taking it slowly, too. Traveling with a photographer, a producer and a videographer, we stopped enough times throughout the week for scenic shots and b-roll that I always had time to catch my breath. Whew!
My point is this: Regardless of our age, God equips us to do the jobs He’s given us to do. Caleb knew this when, at age 85, he asked permission to drive out the inhabitants from the land the Lord had promised him. Even as an old man, Caleb was ready to do whatever it took to claim the promise of God.
Although I’m still not sure at what point I physically switched from young and energetic to senior and sluggish, in my heart I’m still 35. Granted, I hope I’m wise enough at 50 to realize I won’t be changing the world anytime soon. But, I’m grateful for opportunities to hear and share stories of how God is changing the world one life at a time through those willing to take the gospel to hard places.
Here's one of those stories:
On top of the mountain in eastern Guatemala, I met villagers who had never heard stories from the Bible until missionaries came to their village three years ago.
One woman told me, “I’m grateful (the missionaries) came. Without them, my children would not know the Bible. Now, my children tell the Bible story to each other every night, and they can’t wait until (the missionaries) come again.”
As the missionary translated the story, she cried. She had no idea of the impact she was making among this family until I asked the question.
These kinds of stories make the hike worth it.
Travel light!
This week’s reading: Joshua 12-24, Judges 1-7 Post #13: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.
#travellight
Labels: agriculture, Bible, Bible studies, Christian workers, chronological Bible reading, Gutatemala, hiking, Honduras, TravelLight
