John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

fear

Live the Situation

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“A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.”

— Henri J.M. Nouwen
"A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us."

I was reading yesterday and came across two quotes I didn’t care for.

“Embrace the fear.”

“Love the pain.”

They go against everything that is within me. I want to reject the fear and avoid the pain. It is not easier to do that, but it is a preferable price to pay.

Maybe that is why I am not always a patient person. I don’t want to embrace the fear and love the pain enough to see if there is something hidden in the moment where I find myself.

So I must learn to believe. I must stay put and live out my situation fully. I must be patient.

Embracing the pain. Loving the fear.

Finding what is hidden.

Learn to Fear

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Deuteronomy 17:18-20 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

Long before the kings of Israel showed up, God had set a plan in place for that day to come. He gave those future kings a list of things not to do: don’t acquire a lot of horses, don’t acquire a lot of wives, don’t acquire a lot of money. And to keep the kings on the straight and narrow, they had to write their own book of the law that they were to keep and read for the rest of their life.

I remember when Kathy showed me this one day. I went to look and see if it was recorded what the kings did.

They acquired horses.

They acquired wives.

They acquired money.

You know what I didn’t find? I didn’t find any mention that they had written their own copy of the law of God. So they broke God’s laws, and were judged by God for breaking those laws. So, instead of receiving God’s blessings for obedience, they received judgement for their disobedience.

Maybe the first thing any person who becomes a Christian should do is not buy a Bible, but get a guide who walks with them as they write a copy of the laws of God. Or, maybe every Christian should write their own copy of the law and read it throughout their life.

It might make us all more aware of how we should live.