Faithfulness & Indiana Jones

It seems that over the past year, every time that I’ve been led to think on the Lord and what He is to me, the very first word that comes to mind is “faithful”. Over and over and over again, I find myself thanking Him for being so faithful. It’s something I’ve been thinking through even more so here recently. Today marks 3 years officially cancer-free for me, which is a pretty big deal. Seriously, in my life over the years, time and time again He has proven faithful.

As we are in the final 6+ weeks of our time here in the States, we inevitably get asked by everyone we see about how things are going and where we are in the process. Basically, here is where we are as of today:

 

• We just purchased our plane tickets yesterday and will be departing on Jan. 18.
• We just sold our house today.
• We are still working on the visa situation.
• We are trying to figure out what is going with us and how we are going to ship the few things that we are taking.
• We have raised between 70-75% of the support that we need on a monthly basis, so we still have a bit further to go.

 

Regarding the last point, in man’s wisdom it doesn’t make sense that we would have already purchased tickets for mid-January. Initially we thought that the finances would all be in prior to making the arrangements, however the more we prayed about it and had others praying about it, the more we felt that the Father was telling us to begin moving and as we walked, the provision would come.

 

To be completely honest, as a husband and father, that’s a tough pill to swallow. I’ve always seen it as my responsibility to provide for and protect my family, and now all of a sudden I’m being challenged to trust in something that is not tangibly present yet. The Father has stretched me more during this season than I’ve ever been stretched in my life. I had a good job in the corporate world working for a great global company and I was able through that to provide for my family. Now all of a sudden I find myself in a place where I don’t know for certain where all of our provision will be coming from, other than the Lord.

 

The movie scene that comes to mind is from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You know the scene…Indy’s dad has been shot and is lying there dying. Indy is his only hope at making it to the cup that can provide the healing his dad needs (not exactly theologically sound, but hey, it’s a movie). He makes it successfully through the initial trials when all of a sudden he finds himself at the edge of the large cavern where he cannot see the bottom and he cannot jump across. After a few moments and knowing that life or death hangs in the balance, he comes to the realization that

“it’s a leap of faith”. He lets go of the wall, sticks his foot in the air and steps into what his eyes cannot see…and when it appears that he will certainly fall into the cavern, his foot hits something and a bridge appears before him. Once he stepped into the faith, his perspective was changed and he was tangibly able to see the provision that was there all along. That movie scene summarizes beautifully where I feel like the Lord has me in this moment.

 

The Father has spoken to me that the best way for me to provide for and protect my family is to trust Him as Protector and Provider. The word translated “Lord” in the Bible, also means, “Owner”. The way I see it, I have 2 choices. I can sulk and ask the Owner why everything isn’t already ready, or I can praise and trust that this is His thing anyways and, “faithful is He who has promised, and He will bring it to pass.” (1 Thess. 5.24) I choose the latter.

 

I see all of this as an honor…that the Father would love me so much to stretch my capacity.

 

Where are being stretched? What is a recent example of the Lord’s faithfulness in your life? I’d love to hear your testimony in the comments below.