Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. At first, when I stepped out onto the front porch, what I saw was another hazy day with little or no need even for a pair of sunglasses. But it didn’t take long for the sun to burn through the haze with a blinding light, and God surprised me by turning the haze into brightness. We had an unpredictable storm pass through Virginia last night that only the One who Commands the wind and the rain Knew was coming. It was one of the worst storms I’ve seen in a long time – fierce winds, lightning, and thunder that rattled the walls of this old farmhouse, and yet, it took the “experts” by surprise. God makes it rain when He’s ready for rain, and no amount of expert predictions can Predict the Hand of God. As I sat in the presence of a Mighty God to pour out my Love and my Thanks, I thought about how nature is a lot like Life. There is a mystery to the Journey, and we can’t predict what the future holds. We can’t control every turn. We can’t predict what the future holds no more than the “experts” can Predict the Plans of God. But when the Right Heart meets with Determination to embrace the Journey, we can find the beauty in the mystery just as surely as we find it in a summer storm. Isn’t that the way you look at Life too?

One of the Greatest Mysteries of all time is Faith. Some accept it – some don’t. Some “buy in” to every Truth between the pages of the Bible, while some believe it’s only True if they can PROVE it’s true, and they intellectualize the Word of God to satisfy their own curiosity and doubt. Some have a relationship with the Living God, and they search for the Truth all on their own, while some rely solely on a “man of the cloth” to lead the way. Some Surrender every aspect of Life over to the God they Trust, while some consider surrender to be weakness, so they attempt to steer their own ship. I don’t completely understand it, but I know that when we come to our Faith with a humble Heart, the ways of God aren’t mysterious to us at all…we just accept them! No scholar on the planet can change my mind, and no science can refute what I Believe. God formed the earth in 7 days. Jonah was swallowed up in the belly of a big fish. Moses used his staff to part the sea. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The sun stood still at God’s command. The Earth was once flooded, destroying everything on it. Jesus died for my sins, and He was resurrected from the grave, and He has a place Prepared for me in Heaven. I believe every word of it! “Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see.” After all, what would it say about me and my Heart for Jesus Christ if I doubted the Word of my God? Hmm…

I am blessed to have a wonderful family…the love that flows through it is almost tangible. I raised my kids on my own, and we still laugh about some of the silly things I told them when they were young. Truth be told, I could have told them anything, and they would have believed me. They trusted me. They loved me. They depended on me. They respected me. We had plenty of ups and downs, but they never doubted me in the process, because they knew I would never leave them, and they knew I’d always do what’s best for us all. No doubt I flew by the seat of my pants sometimes, and I made plenty of mistakes – but when it came to raising my kids, I had ONE goal…to be a Reflection of the One I wanted them to Follow. I was absolutely sure that if they could see the Unconditional love of Christ in me, they’d learn to Trust Him too…and I was right. They witnessed my Faith day in and day out. They saw my Love for Him in every part of our lives. They experienced my Unconditional love no matter what, and “tough love” wasn’t in my vocabulary…and it shouldn’t be in yours either. I met each offense with Christ-like gentleness, and I didn’t rub past offenses in their face as a reminder of their rebellion because Christ doesn’t do that with me! They watched me depend on Him when I couldn’t see the future. They knew I Respected His Word and His Will, ESPECIALLY when Life looked as mysterious as the morning sun. I took the mystery out of Faith by walking it out in Living Color, and today they’re doing the same thing. My ONE Goal for my family will be paying off for generations to come! Hallelujah!

There’s plenty of mystery to this Journey called Life, and sometimes we feel uncertain about the future because of what we see with our eyes. But there’s really no mystery when it comes to God. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, and He is TRUST WORTHY. Some of us Believe every single thing we Read in the Bible, and we Trust Him through it all because we love Him. We depend on Him. We respect Him. Our Faith is Unshakable and our Belief Unquestionable … and that’s a huge mystery to a lost world. God says, “My thoughts aren’t your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,” so it falls on the ridiculous side to try to Understand the Mind of God or what His next move is. You can’t out think God, that’s for sure. He IS the maker of the rain. He IS the Master of all. He IS the One who scattered the stars in the sky and knows them each by name…and He Knows my name too! So, I might look at a hazy sky once in a while and take a guess at what the weather will be like for the day BUT I know that I know that only God calls the shots and it’s not humanly possible to His next Move. All the more reason to keep “peeking” through the trees and keep Shining like the Stars. If the lost world can see the Unconditional Love of Christ in us…if the lost world can see Peace in us when it makes no sense at all, they just might learn to Trust my Unpredictable God, too!

How about you?