Courage

I am today challenged with the courage that God calls me to. Courage. What does it mean? I think that, today, courage means standing strong on the principles set forth from the beginning of time. These are the principles that are merged into the fabric of creation. These are the principals that are laid into the foundation of the world. Why? God wants to know who or what we will choose.

Who will choose God’s way and who will choose the ways of man? God’s way flows like a river. Man’s way flows opposite of God’s river. Which way will you travel? The current of man is strong and it’s under currents are even stronger. Before you know it, you are cast into the flow of man and soon you are a part of it. God’s flow is steady, slow and powerful. God’s flow has cut a deep path for us to follow that dates back to the time of Adam. Man’s path also dates back to the time of Adam. Both were one and the same, they shared their head waters, but split once sin entered the picture. Now both run deep, but they run in opposite directions. God’s flow runs to eternity. Man’s flow runs to destruction. God’s flow is forever, without end. Man’s flow is for today, and will ultimately come to an end.

Courage. It is courage that determines what flow we inhabit. Our courage is evidenced by the choices we make everyday. Courage calls us to go against the flow of man and stand strong and tall. Courage causes man to go against the flow and do things that are unheard of and unspoken of. Courage causes a man to stand when the trumpet blows and all are instructed to fall and worship an idol… even if it means certain death. Courage causes a man to enter a temple and drive out those who would turn their father’s house into a den of thieves. Courage causes a man to open his windows, bow and pray to God when such would render a death sentence. Courage causes a man, in the midst of his greatest agony, to declare that all his appointed time he will wait for his change to come. Courage causes a man with His last breath to utter “it is finished”. Courage causes a man to have a dream. Courage causes a man to say we have nothing to fear when we cannot find food to eat. Courage causes a man to lay his life down to demonstrate Christ’s love in a way that only tribal indians in Ecuador can understand. Courage causes a man to stand before a giant with stones. Courage causes a man to stand before 300 prophets of Baal and call down fire from heaven. Courage.

Where is your courage today? Having trouble finding it? That is because you are in the wrong flow. A man who has courage, does not have to look hard to find it or feel it. He feels it everyday. Courage is painful, inconvenient, does not happen on a time table and does not have design (at least not one we are conscious of). Courage goes against the flow. Which flow are you in? The question is answered in a heart beat. Don’t deny the truth, do something about it. Change direction.