Walked Out of the Wilderness

Slowly and progressively, through and out of the desert is the best. On the edge of a new place, or a place being reclaimed for the Kingdom, it is scary. That is where faith is challenged, and The Faithful One proves Himself faithful, again. And again.

It is the only place worth living in. It is the place of the Taste. Taste and see that the Lord is Good. It is the place of knowing by tasting.

Moment by moment, steps lead to forks in the road. Decision points. One direction is a broad path, the other narrow, steep, stoney. Little or no God is required for the broad way. The other way is impassable without him.

So He walks you slowly and progressively up and through the narrow way. Some, much of the route is easy enough that your pride thinks you are doing the travelling.

The rest of the path is where you come to know. Not imagine. Know. You taste and see that the Lord is good, because there are no options. Well...there is one. The broad way is always right there, just a step away, full of comfort and comfortable people. Here in the narrows, though, there is a different comfort.

Sunday nights we would be coming back from a weekend in Wisconsin with grandparents. It would be late when we got home, and I would be asleep in the back of the station wagon. I would wake up when the winter air hit my face. I would fell the rhythm of being carried into the house. And I would look up and see my Dad's facing looking down as he carried me. It stuck so strong, because it was so right. It was one of the things that defined a dad. That is the comfort of the narrows, the wilderness.

Father, thank you for your fathering. And thank you for the stony way, where your nature shines in the darkness.