Beyond the Dinner Table

Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday over the past few years. It is a time that you come together with family. It is a time that you truly give thanks to God for all that you have been blessed with. I have so many memories of thanksgivings past. I remember being taught about the Pilgrims and how the Indians helped them through their first winter. I remember going to my grandmother's house with all of my mom's family. I remember the smell of turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, among other wonderful foods. What sticks out the most to me though is this Thanksgiving that I spent with Rachel. It was just the two of us this year. It was wonderful. We had a nice quiet day together. There was no rushing or running around. We were so thankful for how God has provided for us in the past year. It wasn't about the food. It wasn't about gorging ourselves on turkey. It was about being together and giving thanks to God for His presence constantly working in our life together. My prayer is that this Thanksgiving was an experience that moved beyond the dinner table and into your hearts. May each of you be blessed in the coming year that you cannot help but be thankful with each moment.

Wilderness

God does amazing things in our lives each day as we travel the road He desires for our lives. More often than not that road does not look the way we would have carved it out. God has a way of shaping our road the way He sees fit. This is one of the most difficult ideas I have struggled to wrap my mind around as a Christian. Of course that is the moment that God reveals the egotistical road that that mindset takes me down as His follower. When I travel down the road of self; it really is not truly following God's will because I want to put parameters on it. It sounds really nice to tell people that I want to go where God wants me to go, and deep down that really is true. The fact of the matter is this.... More often than not I want to go where I am comfortable. I want to do God's will so long as His will fits my will. "Lord, I'll do whatever you want except.... I go where ever you want me to go except there." When we put parameters on God's will we really are not fully surrendered to what He wants us to do. That does not mean God will not use us to glorify His Kingdom; because eventually He will find a way to bring us around to His will until we finally do raise our white flag to give Him glory,truly following after Him. As I am in my own wilderness I believe that God is using both Rachel and I. I believe this battle of my will versus God's will is soon coming to an end with God having the victory and me saying oh so that is what you were trying to show me. God has blessed us in so many ways. He brought us through four years of college at Johnson University (Johnson Bible College)completely debt free. In fact He even helped us to pay off the rest of the debt I had acquired years ago before I even met Rachel. He helped me to attain a 4.0 my last semester there. God taught Rachel and I so many ways to trust Him and to lean on His plan for our lives. An interesting thought about how He shaped and molded us over the last four years is this.... God is not finished with us. He is still at work in our lives; even when we do not know what He is doing. We are all unfinished work. Whether you want to use the image of a potter, a sculpture, and gardener or whatever; this idea remains. God continues to do His work in us no matter how stubborn we are. No matter how much we want to think that we have control of our lives; God truly has a far better plan than we could ever imagine. That is where our hope lies. Our hope is in the plan that God continues to orchestrate in our lives each day. That same message Christ lays out for each of us. It is simply a matter of whether or not we choose to be receptive to His plan. That is both the beauty and curse of free will. Jesus does not force His will on us. We have the freedom to choose our own path, do our own thing, or make our own plan. However, when we choose this path it often ends up becoming much more difficult. When we surrender our plans to God's plan it does not necessarily become easier, but we turn our eyes to a greater purpose than our own and inste

ad of putting our plans in front of God's plan; our plans become God's plan as we let our own human desires die and seek to do what He desires. It is an interesting and often times difficult transition to take in life but the rewards on the other side are blessed and eternal. This is the return of the Behr's Trails. My hope is that we may share what God is doing in our lives and perhaps God can show all of us some insights as we all travel our own road. May you allow Christ to do His work in your hearts this week by letting go of your idea of control and embracing that God is in control and wants to do amazing things in each of your lives. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." -Proverbs 16:9