I WALK ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL daily, close to the beautiful Skyline Drive, near Front Royal Virginia, and the Shenandoah River.
With this as a setting … ( also I have my Godsend of a dog “Aja” with me, named after the great “Steely Dan” song of the seventies. As you might imagine, this trail is a perfect setting to clear my mind and to talk to my creator. Lately, I have been finding myself praying differently. I ask God to walk with me “in the cool of the day.” I remind God of a special manifestation back in 1981 at a prayer meeting … Where His presence was so obvious. I pray in whispers, that I long for His presence and for “His peace that passes all understanding.” I must say that I don’t “feel” anything Holy in the ensuing minutes. It’ s usually later, like right now as I am writing this post ; that I feel the prompting an inspiration from God.
Lately, (and as I always do) I have been confessing the sins and failures of my life. I know God is the Alpha and the Omega, and certainly knows the beginning and end of my short time on earth. Nothing escapes His omniscience. I am also experiencing a common tactic of Satan, in that I am questioning my salvation. I often wonder what God thinks as I go through my “pity my routine”, and remind Him of how pathetic I am, “and that I certainly am not fit for heaven.”… My thought processes usually go something like this … how can I have lived the upside-down screwed-up life that I have lived and expect to close my eyes on this side and wake up in heaven? … Then I remember the ancient story of how the Hebrew slaves that were in Egyptian bondage, survived the death angel that was sent by God to deal with the pharaoh; by doing as God had commanded and putting the sacrificial animal’s blood on the doorposts of their homes, and by doing so, the death angel would see the blood, and not kill the firstborn of the household … As it did to the Egyptian households that did not have the blood covering their doorstep.
I found and find, as I clumsily yield to God, that “how horrible I am or perceive myself to be” is not the way that God sees me, since I have accepted Christ, and God the Father sees me “in Christ”… And covered by Christ’s blood. Friends, I am here to tell you under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that there’s no other way than God’s way. Please take a walk and seek God.
Frankie The Earthman 