One Year Ago

The other night I was watching the Dallas Cowboys in their first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals.  As I watched the game, they kept showing images of Dak Prescott on the sidelines, just hanging out, with his headset on, and watching the game.  I began to think about all that has changed in the last year.  This time last year he was fighting for a position on the team…..he was fighting for his career.  And through some extraordinary events, the team is now his.  I’m sure he never envisioned that for his life, but that life…..that life he may have never thought possible…..with hard work, dedication, and God came to pass.

This time last year I never envisioned ever writing a blog, ever going to church as a family, ever reading my Bible everyday, ever praying throughout the day…..but God has a way of putting His plan into action when the timing is right.  A few weeks ago I was watching the second season of Last Chance U….a show about a junior college in Mississippi that takes kids who got into trouble in their first attempt to play football at college and gives them a second chance.  There was a guy on there from Texas Tech who got into some trouble and was kicked out of school.  He said he wasn’t a Christian at that point, but he began to pray and pray and pray…..and when he did, miracles started happening in his life.  Now, a year later, he has become a Christian and is back at Texas Tech getting ready for his second chance…..after his life has completely changed.

I’m a pretty nostalgic person….I always get real deep in my thoughts and think about the past…where I have come from…what I have done.  I have the app Timehop on my phone and always look to see where I was on this day in my past.   You ever wonder if the people in Jesus’s life ever sat on a bench by the Sea of Galilee and looked back to where they were just a year ago.  You ever wonder if they, if they looked at each other one day and asked…”You remember that day Jesus showed up?”

“Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea;  for they were fishermen.  And He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee,.  their father, mending their nets, and He called them.  Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed them (Matthew 5:18-22.)”

They didn’t second guess their calling……Elisha didn’t second guess his calling when Elijah showed up in the fields one day and threw his cloak on him.  “And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him.  He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you (1 Kings 19:19-20.)”

Looking back on where I have come from….where I am now amazes me.  But I know that none of this would have been possible without me not only just hearing that whisper from God, but moving on it.  God has a plan for you….but God also wants you to play your part in that plan.  You can’t just pray for rain and sit on the coach and wait.  You have to grab your umbrella and rain boots and head out in the front yard and wait.  You have steps you must complete in His plan.

So as I look back I wonder what that moment was that changed my life forever….what I was doing, who said what to me, what song I was listening to on the radio that caused that shift.  But in the end, that shift was caused by God.  God reached down from heaven, took my hand, and said, “It’s time!!!!”

So when your starting quarterback breaks his back for the seventh time, when someone comes up and throws their cloak on you……when God says that it’s time to move……YOU BETTER MOVE.  Because the rest of your life will never happen until you take that first step.

So if you are in a place of struggle….not really knowing what path you are on or what path to take….I pray that you pray…and listen…..listen to what you should be doing next.  It’s not going to be a physical voice telling you your exact move.  But you will know in your heart what you are meant to be doing…..what step you are meant to take.  I pray that when God sends you that message you have the courage to take that first step in His plan.  And I pray that you can sit on your porch “1 year later” and look back on your life and know that God’s plans are in work, and that you have had enough faith to begin to follow them……and one day God will lead you to exactly where you are supposed to be.