FAITHFULNESS by Linda Ford

We have a guest blogger for the Sunday devotional today.

Linda Ford lives and writes in Central Alberta Canada. She has published several historical and contemporary novels, which have a recurring theme of foreverness, commitment, the power of faith and the joy of family. Her most recent release is Christmas under Western Skies, an anthology published by Love Inspired, Historical, co-authored with Anna Schmidt. Visit Linda's website

As an author I get to enjoy many special things such as conferences where I meet like-minded people, plus letters from readers encouraging me that my story did meet some of the goals I had for it and travel in the name of research.

One such research trip this past summer included a journey to Yellowstone National Park. We arrived at Old Faithful minutes before it erupted. It began with steam pouring forth then boiling water began to bubble up as the spout grew higher and higher. The column of water appeared to dance. It was very impressive. We thought it well worth the trip as did several hundred others gathered about the geyser.

Old Faithful was named because of the faithfulness of its eruptions. In 1939 the eruptions occurred after an interval averaging 66.5 min. Over the years the interval has grown longer. It is more predicable than other geysers but each eruption is forecast according to the type of previous one. As Wikipedia explains, ‘With a margin of error of 10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes.’ This explains why, when you ask at the entrance to the park when the next eruption is they can’t always tell you. They can only predict it after an eruption.

Part of the reason the intervals have changed over the years is due to earthquakes in the area and vandalism. People like to throw things into the geyser to see if they get thrown back out on a jet of boiling water.

You see Old Faithful isn’t unchangeable. Not like the Faithful One—my God and Savior-- who changes not. Neither time nor attack can change Him. Malachi 3: 6 says, “I the Lord do not change.” He is the Rock. Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refugee.” I do not need a time keeper to predict Him, nor a guide to tell me what to expect from Him. His word reveals Him and He does not change. He is my Faithful One.