Follow Me.

  

I have come to the realization that more often then not when I pray and ask for direction for my life, I want a Google Map.  I want to be able to plug in point A and point B and then be given a map that shows me my 3 options of how to make my journey and the time frame of each trip so I can make the best possible choice.  

In coming to this realization, I am finally coming to peace with the fact that this isn't necessarily how Jesus operates, instead of fighting against Him.  Most of the time, when I ask for direction He just says "Follow Me." 

Now I know He has giving us the big point A (creation and the garden of Eden) and the ultimate final point B (He coming back to the earth and establishing His Kingdom), both of which are fantastic and I am waiting for that final point B. He has even given us a road map to follow for those two (or at least sign posts).  I also know that sometimes He does show us where He is leading us (people who know they are called to missions or a certain job, or to be a mom or a dad) but He doesn't always share how we are going to get there or how long it will take.  It seems that in the day to day living our lives, in our personal pursuit of learning to love God, to love others, to walk out our callings; He just says, "Follow Me".

I have noticed this through out the Bible lately.  God told Abraham to leave his family and come follow Him and didn't even tell Abraham where he was going. Abraham got those pieces along the way.  Same thing with Moses. He just got the command to, "lead the people out of Egypt to the land I promised your forefathers." I think I can hazzard a guess and say Moses would have had some knowledge of a map since he grew up in the Egyptian court, but neither he nor any of  the Israelites that he led had ever seen the land they were being taken to. It was a promise passed down through generations, almost a dream, by the time God said it was time to move.  David was told he would be king, but had no idea when or how that would happen. Samuel was told by God to go and anoint kings but he was not told who the person actually was until the very last moment.  Jesus did the same thing with His disciples, "Come follow Me."  

I have noticed to in all these stories that it takes humility, faith and trust to say," I will follow, I won't lead, I will just follow." 

Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave us alone in all of this. He doesn't just say, follow me and then does a disapearing act.  He promises to be with us through it all. He promises that His presence will go with us.  

I have never had this truth seem as real to me as a couple of weeks ago when we at SHOP had our first Sunday in our new location.  None of us had ever been in the building before, some of us had never been to that area of the city before.  It had new smells, new issues with sound and set up for our worship teams.  It was distracting to be in a completely new environment and learn where everything was.  And, we still aren't 100% sure how long we will be there before we are told it is time to move on to the next place.  It is full on transition and learning to follow Holy Spirit's leading, not just as an individual but as group of people.

In all of that I felt that Jesus was reminding me that we said we would follow Him where ever He would lead us. In fact my worship team sang that for almost 20min. the previous week.  As I submitted again and said, OK, I will just follow, where ever you lead, how ever you lead, I felt His presence around me.  It felt the same as it had at times in Kings (our previous home), it felt the same as it had at times in Korea, at IHOP, at home in Brandon.  It was such a sweet and steadying reminder of how He as already led me at different times and a promise of how He will continue to lead.

To be reminded of how He has led in the past so I can trust Him again for the future and to leave the future with Him.  It left me excited again for what is next.  I am excited to see where He will lead SHOP in this next season.  Not just in the physical sense, but also in a spiritual sense.  I feel like there is an invitation to a deeper conversation with God. To know and understand Him at a deeper level then we do right now.  We just have to take the steps He shows us, and to trust Him to get us there.