The Other Side

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. - Revelation 22: 1-5


Today’s Reading: Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22


Dear God,

I’m now seeing the Promised Land that you showed Moses. Or rather the Promised Land that perhaps you have for my life. It is the other side of the journey of faith that I talked to you about before.

The other side of the journey of faith is the place we land once we have taken the leap.

For a long time I remained standing at edge of the plateau of my understanding and looked out into the abyss of uncertainty that my path has led me too. I stood there and looked, afraid of what would happen beyond the next step. How can I take a step out when I don’t see the ground beneath? What is next? What will happen? This doesn’t make any sense!

But now I see that we all have a point in our lives where we are presented with a choice. We can either stand there where we are, turn back because what is to come is too scary, or we can leap, believing that You will give us wings to fly.

For some this is starting a business, or a ministry, or asking a girl out on a date. But always, without fail, the great things that you have waiting for us on the other side of faith require us to take a leap to get there. You take us from babies that cry to babies that crawl; then to babies that walk as you grow us into your children and adults who can run. Eventually there comes a time when merely walking or running won’t take us where you want us to go. You always give us the choice to stay on the ground if we want to because you love us. There’s no shame in that.

But you also show us that there is more. There is more to the world that we live in. You remind us that if we look back on the times where we went from crawling to walking, those times too required us to take leaps. Those leaps may be small compared to what we are facing now but they are evidence that You will always be faithful to your plans for our lives.

I stand now at my own personal plateau. Rather I’m taking a few steps back so that I can get a running start. I don’t know what will come but I know that whatever it may be, You will be there with me.

Thank you for always being there, and for being with me this past year and ten months.

See you on the other side.

In the name of Jesus,

Amen.