Thoughts for the Journey from Bill Myers

As an author and film producer, Bill Myers’s work has won over 70 national and international awards including the C.S. Lewis Honor Award. His books and videos, which include Eli and McGee and Me, have sold 8 million copies. His most recent book, The Jesus Experience - Journey Deeper into the Heart of God, explores how he went from a burned-out evangelical to someone head-over-heels in love with his Creator. www.billmyers.com

GOD’S WORKOUT PROGRAM

“Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

When I was in high school, I was captain of my tennis team. (No big accomplishment; my school was so small that if you owned a racket and a pair of tennis shoes, you’d make varsity). My grandma lived one block away from the school and she made great chocolate chip cookies. So on the days when the coach said, “Okay Myers, take the team on a run around the town,” I was only too happy to oblige.

We’d start off running, disappear around the block, and drop by Grandma’s, where we sat around drinking milk and eating cookies. Then, at the appropriate time, we said our goodbyes, splashed water on our faces, and staggered back to the school, pretending we were exhausted. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, everyone was happy. The coach got to go get some coffee, and we got to lounge around drinking milk and eating cookies. A definite win/win.

                 

Well, not quite.

        

For some reason, our team lost every match that year. More than lost, we were slaughtered. We just didn’t seem to have the stamina of the other teams.

Scripture is clear that God is not the author of difficulties, but it is equally clear that He is sovereign and will use difficulties for our good -- to strengthen us. “To make us mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

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PLANTING FOR THE FUTURE

by Cynthia Ruchti

Of all the trees on our property, this one holds my attention. And affection. Its brilliant colors in autumn stir the poet in me. But that's not where its value lies for our family.

This tree is the daughter of a massive maple that once graced a different part of the yard. The day a storm toppled it, we mourned, even the youngest child. It had served as sentry, fort, hiding place, shade, shelter, goal post, and bird habitat for possibly a hundred years or more.

The parent tree died twenty-five years ago.

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IS THIS HOME?

by Cynthia Ruchti

It's a question I often ask when sitting in a plane with someone who made it clear they wanted to be left alone during the flight. Headphones firmly planted. Nose just a little closer than necessary to the book they're reading. Eyes closed before the plane taxis away from the jetway.

I've been that person, when the reason for the trip exhausted me or thoughts swirling in my brain needed time to untangle themselves.

The trip passes to the roar of the engines and other conversations.

When the plane lands, the passenger beside me disengages from headphones or book or sleep and we prepare to collect our belongings and ourselves.

"Is this home for you? Or are you going on to someplace else?"

The last time I asked those questions, the answer opened wide the doors of conversation. A young woman. Home at last after a many-legged flight from the Philippines where she'd met her father's girlfriend. She'd stayed in a plush hotel in Manila for part of the trip, and journeyed into the mountains to the remote village where the girlfriend's multi-generational family lived in a simple hut.

Home. Home at last. My fellow traveler had ridden a truck, a bus, island hopped in a small plane for the next leg of her journey on an even smaller plane before her transcontinental flights that eventually led her to seat 26B.

"Is this home, or are you headed someplace else?" 

This project. Is it home, or layover in the journey? This place physically, emotionally, spiritually? Have I landed here or am I still moving, still looking ahead to a goal not yet realized?

Is this all the prayerful I'll ever be? All the loving, forgiving? Have I plateaued right here in the realm of maturity? Have I acted as if I'm already home, with no more miles to log? No more destinations in mind? No more assignments to fulfill?

I'm not home yet.

So, I "reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus," Philippians 3:14 CEB.

Is this--where you are right now--home for you? Or are you headed someplace else?



Cynthia Ruchti tells stories hemmed in hope. She's anticipating the May 2015 release of her fourth novel with Abingdon Press--As Waters Gone By. She serves as the professional relations liaison for American Christian Fiction Writers. You can learn more about others of her fourteen books or her speaking events for women at www.cynthiaruchti.com.

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