Slideshow image

Scripture for the day: Joshua 14:12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.
Thought for the day: I love the story of Joshua and Caleb and the spies who went up into the Promised Land to find out what the people would be facing when the Lord brought them in. I especially like the ending to the story, which doesn’t come until Joshua. 45 years had passed since those spies went up from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. Forty of those years were spent wandering about in the desert while the entire first generation perished. The only two left to cross the Jordan were Joshua and Caleb, both now old men. 
 Five more years passed, years of warfare, strife and unrest. Now they had claimed most of the land promised to Abraham so many years before and had gathered to begin dividing the land according to the twelve tribes. Leaning on his staff somewhere in the crowd was the oldest person in all of Israel. When Joshua had finished his speech and the people had fallen silent, his voice rang out: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God …. Now, give me my mountain!” (Joshua 14:6-8, 12).
 Here’s the point, or at least one of them; Caleb had, for all his life, wholly followed the Lord, as he himself said. In his case, wholly following the Lord meant that he would not allow himself to be distracted by popular opinion. The spies who brought their report to Moses and the people had all seen the same obstacles. They all told the same story of how good the land was. The difference between the ten nay-sayers and Caleb was their level of trust in the One who had brought them to that place. 
    Yogi Berra was the catcher for the New York Yankees. Hank Aaron was a young power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. They were playing in the World Series and Yogi, as he always did, kept up his ceaseless chatter, intending to pep up his teammates and distract the Milwaukee batters. Aaron came to the plate and Yogi said, "Henry, you’re holding the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." 
          Aaron didn’t say anything. On the next pitch, he hit a line drive into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn’t come up here to read."
          The point is, there will always be those who say we’re doing it wrong. There will always be some who say the giants are too big and that whatever the Lord has brought us to can’t be done. There are always people who will live by the what-if’s. What’s popular usually isn’t usually right and what’s right usually isn’t popular! But as Christians our focus should be on pleasing the One who has brought us out of bondage. God never looks for us to partially follow Him, He never asks us to be lukewarm, He never admonishes us to trust Him with a little bit of our heart! No, He’s called us to trust Him, no matter the size of the giants or the opinion of the majority. Don’t get distracted by the circumstances. Follow Him; trust Him.
Now go take on your world.  -  Bill