Strawberry Truths

Perseverance, steadfastness, faithfulness--these are areas the Lord has stressed in my life. Maybe that's why my Lord keeps bringing me back to Hebrews 11 and 12.

My deepest childhood fear was always a fear of failure, so I never tried anything new. When I was in my teens a family friend noted, "Eva doesn't have any backbone. She's spineless."

As an adult I've struggled with following through on hard things. Often I'm tempted to give up, run away or withdraw. But God is greater than my weakness.

My paraphrase from Hebrews 12:1 (TLB) is His Word to me: "Strip off anything that slows you down or holds you back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves around your feet and trip you up; and run with patience the particular race that God has set before you. Run . . . endure . . . agonize . . . persevere . . .

A memory--I'm nine years old and my brothers and I have a job picking strawberries at the neighbor's place a mile down the road then another quarter or so after the crossroads. We have to walk to get there but it doesn't matter.

At least not at first. The morning was cool and we were excited about the money we'd earn. The neighbor would pay us twenty-five cents for every carrier we picked. Except the sun shone hot and the day stretched long.

At 2 o'clock I stuffed a single dollar into my pocket and headed home. The details of that walk are still vivid. My brothers took off ahead and I plodded along alone.

A long stretch of road bordered by fields meant sunshine all the way. But a huge oak alongside the road offered a slight reprieve. After that, more sunshine, and a wooded area where sheep grazed. I fixed my eyes on the dense shade cast by those fir trees and kept on. After that, more sunshine, and then the trees along our driveway welcomed me. My knees trembled by this time, and my face felt like it was on fire. But I wasn't going to stop.

I opened the front door and looked inside. My eye caught my reflection in a mirror on an opposite wall. I couldn't tell where the red strawberry juice around my mouth ended and the sunburn on my cheeks began. But I had made it.

I stepped across the threshold. I was home, home at last.

What Makes Life an Adventure?

When I think of adventure today, it would be to travel to the Holy Land to do research on a novel about one of the wise men who followed the star.

As a child though, adventure meant following the creek that flowed through our property. Where did it begin? Where did it end?

I remember when my brothers, Dale and Lawrence, were given the job of felling several forty-foot fir trees along the fence line. As the saw bit deep into the trunk, Lawrence and I took turns climbing to the top, to ride each tree to the ground as it fell.

Branches trembled and Lawrence's "timber" shout echoed through the forest as I embraced the trunk. The tree gained momentum as it plunged earthward. At the very last moment I'd let go. When the tree smashed into the dirt, my hands were free. Afterwards I'd pick bits of bark off my shirt and try to peel the pitch off my hands and arms.

An adventure? It seemed so then, but now I'm not so sure. Even though encountering danger and a liking for excitement is, according to the dictionary definition, part of adventure, there's more.

When I place the phrases "to risk, to dare, and venture on" alongside Abraham and Sarah, I understand why their lives have been called adventures in faith. Adventure really does fit with what I'm learning. There's a risk involved with taking God at His Word.

Abraham's faith had taken him away from his homeland.

Now it's taking him beyond the borders of his tent. I can see him sitting outside, starlight silvering the grass. Is he envisioning the heavenly city God is preparing for him and his family in the distant future? "for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Do his thoughts whisper, "It will be. God has said. . . ."

I know from God's Word that faith which sees every step ahead is not really faith. Yet neither is faith blind. The eyes of faith focus on God's Word. The ears of faith listen to what God has to say. The will of faith obeys, puts a hand to the task, and gets the feet moving in God's direction. I realize now that walking by faith makes life an adventure.

Give us courage to pray, "Lord, increase our faith."