ON THE ROAD ....WITH DAVID

Have you ever bought or listened to an audiobook? I had my first experience today. I left this morning on a long drive to Gatlinburg to help out with the Strength to Stand Conference.

Before I tell my story, I would like you to first pray for all of the folks traveling up here and also pray that the Lord will move over the next three days in the lives of those who attend this conference, youth and adults.

Back to my story. As I traveled, I bought the audiobook "Facing Your Giants" by Max Lucado. Very good book. I would suggest it to all. I did not finish it on the drive, but many different things stick out. One big thing was a major comparison of David and his life to the life that most of us live today. David was labeled "a man after God's own heart." Yet take a look at his life and he was far from perfect. How many times in our lives do we take an inner look at ourselves and want to throw up. That might be very graphic, but many times for me it is so true. We harbor things in our lives that we hate. We are dominated and sometimes taken over by ugly sins that we just don't want to face. We run, thinking if we run far enough away, that these things will go away. Yet they do not. I loved the part in the book where it describes David facing Goliath (his giant) and facing him head on, not retreating but moving forward. How many times in our lives do we face our "Goliaths" head on. For me, very rarely. I am a big fan of hiding them and pretending that they don't exist, or at least they don't exist outside in public.

I want to take a page out of David's book over the next three days here in Gatlinburg and face some of my "Goliaths" head on. Everyone has different "Goliaths" in their lives. We sometimes try to talk ourselves into thinking that ours is not as big and bad as someone else's. The truth is, if their is sin in our life that dominates us, it is separating us from a closer walk with Jesus and it's time to deal with it.

A common verse that has repeatedly shown up in the past couples of days for me is Jeremiah 29:11:

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

The Lord's plan is there for all of us. His plan involves a closer walk with Him in order to follow the right path. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. I pray for a renewing spirit over the next three days. I pray that I regain a deeper hunger for wanting to walk closer with My Savior. A five hour drive by yourself is not always the most fun thing in the world. But a five hour drive with a beginning of refocus was wonderful! I thank the Lord for safe travels here. I pray for movement during the conference. And I say thank you that I was able to learn some things from "a man after God's own heart."