Saying Our Good Byes! January 18, 2008

Saying Our Good Byes!

Last Night, Jim's Brother Ron Gerard and his wife Lois, His Sister, Mary Lou and her husband Lee Stickney, met us at Perkins for supper.

We met together to say our good byes. For Jim, Becky and I are moving to Florida next week. In my devotions this morning I thought of how fitting it was.

The Title:

Shenandoah!

Genesis 12:1-9 was the scripture.

Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation: I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.

Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

In my devotional there were these words.

Circumstances may change, but the heart that seeks the Lord experiences His joy. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). As we yield to His will as revealed in Scripture, we find ourselves desiring what God desires. -HDF

The Devotional also said:

My grandfather grew up on the North American frontier and raised his family on a dairy farm. To pass the time, he often sang songs while he worked. "Shenandoah" was one of his favorites:

O Shenandoah, I long to hear you,

Away, you rolling river,

O Shenandoah, I long to hear you,

Away, I'm bound away,

'Cross the wide Missouri.

That song reflects the love the pioneer songwriter had for the Shenandoah River. Yet he felt compelled to leave its beauty and go west. His love for the familiar rooted him, but the pull of something better won his heart.

When Abraham was called out of Ur to follow God to the Promised Land, he had to leave everything that was familiar to him (Gen. 12:1). Despite the idolatry of that pagan city, Abraham had probably grown attached to the comfort of his home, the variety of the food, and the fellowship of his friends. But Abraham obeyed when he was called to go" (Heb. 11:8).

When we experience God's call to another place, it may mean leaving behind the people and the things we love. But when we're obedient to God, He will provide something even more fulfilling at our new distination. --Dennis Fisher

Fulfillment on life's journey comes

When we in faith obey

The leading of our loving God-

He'll not lead us astray. --Sper

You don't need to see the way if you follow the One who is the Way.