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Don’t Run In Crocs

July 7, 2021·Brandt Andersen

I’d love to share with you from this week’s Pause reading plan out of Psalm 40, specifically, the first few verses…

1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

I love these scriptures, because they paint such a beautiful picture of the heart and the intention of the Father.

Recently, we were celebrating Father’s Day at my parents’ house on a Sunday afternoon, and our kids had been swimming and playing in my parents’ backyard. As we were getting ready to make some s’mores, I was grabbing firewood on a dirt area where we split the wood, and my four-year-old son, Callen, was helping take the wood back and forth to his Papa. As he was running back from dropping off a couple of four-year-old-sized logs with my Dad, he caught his toe on a rock and went sliding across the very well-packed dirt in this area. Mind you, he had been swimming earlier, so he had on sandals, his swimsuit, and no shirt. Little man completely scraped up his knees, his chest, and the palms of his hands. He had been told several times to not run in his sandals and to slow down and be careful. However, to Callen, in that moment, everything hurt, nothing was going right, and all he wanted was the pain to go away. He didn’t need a reminder that he had been told to do things that could have avoided this outcome.

Callen’s full intention was to help and get to do something with his Dad and Papa. He didn’t willfully ignore our call to stop running and watch where he was going. He had just developed tunnel vision about this thing he wanted so badly to do. And, as you’ll find with anything he does (if you spend even a small amount of time around him), he put his whole little heart into it. Full speed ahead. In this case, it caused him to trip and get hurt.

How often do we, with the best of intentions, go running full steam ahead for something we believe we have the capacity to do, only to catch our toe on something small and go skidding across the floor. I know that’s happened to me. The beautiful thing about it is. just like when it happened to Callen, we have a Father ready to pick us up, dust us off, dress our wounds, and set our feet back on solid ground.

Later in this passage, it goes on to say…

4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. 5 O Lord my God, You have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

Church, may I encourage you today that you have a Father with many, good plans for you, and He’s not scared or angry when we fall along the way. In fact, He desires to come alongside us, help us back up, clean us off, and set us back on the right path with a firm footing.

Brandt Andersen

The Church on the Way