After our wonderful shepherd story we visited our first Wadi. What lessons did we learn as we went down into the wadi? Whats the story about the tree in the picture. I remember we had a few stories in the wadi and also, RVL missed the highway out so we had to struggle in the cool desert with temperatures only around 115.
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Our first experience helping each other through nasty terrain! This was Wadi Zoar - the route Abraham would have taken with God when they looked over Sodom. The broom tree - "shade at my right hand," enough to get me through today.
Oh, didn't Shannon twist her ankle down in here too?
I remember the words that RVL had for us while sitting in this wadi. Desert is not punishment, it is training. Like the apprentice is given an opportunity to try what the teacher has been teaching him. Also the verse that says, "Man does not live by bread alone"; is not having my sandwich and my Bible. It is saying, "God, you decide when I will eat, where I go, how many children I have, etc..." That was a challenge... Oh & can't forget here's where the tambourine story was given. We know He will cause our feet to dance sometime in this desert.
" The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Psa 121... "The Lord is thy shade"... and "the sun shall not smite thee" gives us the promise from our faithful God that he will not let the 'heat' of the desert do us in... we have a faithful Shepherd that will give us just what we need... if we can trust Him. Just enough.. not lots and lots of surplus like we westerners want for peace of mind but just enough to meet our need...Bless God!
God is shade at my right hand-He is never farther away than I can reach. Sometimes that shade is the people in my life, and other times I am to be that shade to others. Do I look as welcoming to people going through hard times as those broom trees look after hours of hot sun in the desert?
the Lord is my shade upon my right hand.... i think that was one of my favorite verses from the trip! But yes am I shade then to the people around me? right when they need it? Also this is the first place the community really learned how to help each-other...
Sorry Family, I feel so bad that I missed the reunion, but I will do everything I can to be at the 2009 one, I am pumped already.
Wadi Zoar....well, there is nothing that I believe spoke to me more in the wadi than the teaching that God leads us in the desert(Deut;8) to humble us and to know us(greek word YADA, same as Adam knew Eve) to very intense level, and the desert is not a place of punishment but a place of training, John Jr
Community was a big thing down in the wadi or should i say getting down into the wadi! And yes that broom tree looked quite inviting even if it was kinda scrawny looking! It was an encouragement to me to realize that i dont have to be a big oak tree to be shade to the people around me that are living in the desert of their lives. I can be a little broom tree and it will make the world of a difference in their lives.
PS. Do you still have your tambourine with you? If you don't you better get it out because you'll need it some day if you don't need it now!
Hey ya'll . . . life has been about 115 degrees for me this past week, but I found a bit of shade right here on this blog. Thanks for your posts.
Was there someone on your tour named Taneika? I went on a tour with RVL this last September. While visiting the quarry near Jesus' old stomping grounds, I found a rock that had what looked like "Taneika" scratched on the bottom. I stumbled upon this blog and saw a name here that matched that spelling...
Whoa, Kevin - yes, Teneika was on our tour.
So you just got back from Israel with RVL. Awesome! Wish I could go there again. Were the Whittens with you as well?
What were the Whittens names? There were about 53 of us, and I was somewhat able to get first names...
I don't know if you are in touch with Taneika, but it would be neat to let her know that I found her "artwork"!
Steve and Susie Whitten, I think.
53 of y'all? Did that include RVL? I think there were 52 of us. :)
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