Building Excitement

Lord, reading through Noah's story right now, slowly but surely, I find myself identifying very closely with him in a lot of ways. First of all, the overwhelming nature of what You have asked of me and my community. I mean, following the Way of the Lord, leading an excellent church that models that, and all of my personal responsibilities on top of that is tiring, but...

I've just really been having a great week. And it's all little things. A great teaching meeting on Monday night, the students enjoying the eclasses I've made this week, a good focused day of teaching on Wednesday, holding my wife in labor rehearsal on Wednesday night, hearing that Bryan is moving and excited about the response for Sunday's gathering...they're not huge but they are hugely encouraging.

So I come to this part of Noah's story where he has been afloat for 150 days or whatever, and finally the ark comes to rest on a mountain. It wasn't a huge thing, but how excited must Noah have been. Things were finally starting to move in the right direction. He maybe was nearing a turning point where things would start to move as he had imagined them. Leaving the ark, renewing family life and beginning again to populate and work the earth. The end of floating was the first step in that direction, and that small thing had to be hugely encouraging.

I feel I'm in that mood right now. I know that this isn't theologically deep today, like I've been trying for over several days, but this just warmed my soul. And I know that perhaps this is where I'm at right now. With whatever happened the last two months, I have felt like I (we) have been floating. Now, I feel like we've found anchor. Now I expect to just wait and wait while You clear the rest of the land for us, preparing the way for whatever we embark on, and then open the door and tell us to go to it. It's exciting and I'm glad to be moving forward.

I love You, Lord. Help my life to reflect that joy today.