The Trip of Faith
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Setting the scene
It began as little urgings to travel to N. Georgia to meet an online friend whom God had sent into my life through the website. Reluctantly, I asked my cousin, Leigh, to go with me but since she’d already had plans to go out west to see her parents, I wasn’t optimistic. Turns out, her previous trip was cancelled, and so we started making plans for a weekend road trip to Georgia . Around this same time, Leigh and a mutual friend of ours, Lori, were having urgings of traveling to North Carolina – reasons unknown. Everywhere they turned was some “sign” pointing them to North Carolina , or bringing North Carolina to their thoughts. So, Leigh and I included NC into our travel plans, and decided to drag Lori along with us, in spite of her recent health problems. Leigh and I chose Asheville since she felt she was being led up there for a possible move. In Asheville , she could relocate with her current job at Lenscrafters. Unfortunately, Asheville was a good 5-6 hours away from where we would be in Gainesville , GA …possibly longer considering the mountains. We discussed this with Lori, but Lori asked about Murphy, NC and where it was in relation to Gainesville . Incredibly, it was only 1-2 hours directly due north from where we would be. Although none of us knew why, Murphy became our destination. Murphy had come up through Lori answering a help wanted ad specifically mentioning someone with Christian values. She worked at home doing computer work for this man for approximately 40 days (a significant time frame in the Bible). The man paid her with a check that contained no address or phone number. He then dropped out of sight. But for some reason, Murphy, NC stuck in Lori’s head. In early June, Leigh and I made the reservations for our trip on July 18-21. Celebrating our journey to unknown destinations, we went to lunch to read the information we’d collected for our travels. To our incredible surprise, we discovered that in Murphy, NC was a Biblical Theme park called, Fields of the Wood. This was one more “sign” of confirmation for us, and one more destination that we knew we were to see. On June 20th, I finished reading the book, “The Alchemist.” This book was sent to my college bound son as required reading for incoming freshman. What was incredible was that it was an allegory about one’s walk with God and finding one’s purpose, or God’s Will, for life. It spoke of following the “signs” God gives us, and the obstacles that can sometimes steal our focus. As I did an outline of the book, and what I learned from it, it seemed very relevant to the upcoming trip, and the “signs” that Leigh, Lori, and I had been given about Murphy. About two weeks before we were to leave, I was lead to another book that spoke directly to me about the upcoming trip -- “The Invitation” by Nancy Moser. It was about 5 people who were sent mysterious invitations to a place called Haven, Nebraska . The invitations were sent by God. Through “signs” and faith, they accepted the invitations and spent two days learning about their relationship with God and growing in their faith. Once more, this book paralleled our trip to Murphy. Although we did not know why we were going, we knew God was leading us and we had to walk by faith, follow His “signs” and trust. If nothing came of the trip other than our own obedience to where we felt God leading us, then that was okay. At least we would be obedient. However, such was not the case. |
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Debbie, my friend in GA, was planning
to go with us to Murphy, too, and as the trip neared, another
online friend from NY, Leanne, was considering meeting us. That
gave us 5 – just like the book. As we all prayed about it,
though, God slowly intervened and weeded us out, much like He
did with Gideon’s Army at the spring of Harod.
Lori, from whom Murphy originated, ended up in the hospital with severe back problems and a surgery scheduled for the day we were to leave. Debbie was called into mandatory work for inventory purposes, and Leanne’s uncle died the day before we were to leave. Leigh and I were the only ones left. Leigh and I, who shared similar trials and have walked this Christian walk together for so many years, would be sharing, once again, God’s awesome wonders and answers. None of us thought this an unfortunate accident, but truly God’s intent all along. Leigh and I would go to Murphy, and it would be for two completely different reasons. My Expectations My only real prayer through all of this was for God to change me. I didn’t care how, but I had been having some personal struggles recently and felt my answer was in our obedience to this trip, no questions asked. Yes, we often felt like Abram when God told him, “Go to the place I will show you.” Abram didn’t know why either, but he was obedient. Dale had been back home now for 5 years. Before his return, I knew that my drinking had been a major factor in our marriage and part of the reason for the problems in our relationship. Lately, I had found my life slowly slipping back into old habits. This was confirmed again on our anniversary night when Dale, once again, mentioned his notice of my drinking more. Beer is my downfall. Not wine, not liquor, but solely beer. I can drink beer, and I enjoy it, like someone else can drink Pepsi. I could see myself falling back to that forbidden place, and I was conscious of needing to do something about it. I had prayed a lot about it, but as I look back now, they were just flitting prayers, flung haphazardly up to God. What I really wanted was for God to just strike me with lightning and take the desire away. But that would’ve been too easy. God had made a covenant with me of promises for Dale’s salvation, but it was not an unconditional covenant. It was conditional on my part to continue closely with Him and walk in His ways. I knew in 1997 that I was to forsake the beer. The drinking held me back from seeking God. I could feel it all happening again, affecting not only myself, but the marriage, too. Therefore, the fulfillment of God’s promises lingered. All of this has great significance to this trip, although I didn’t know it at the time. Remember my prayer – “Lord, Change me!” And then there was Murphy… Continued -> |
