Staying on Course....

I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day, partly because I take joy in having some of the domestic duties in our home, partly because I don’t want my wife to have to all the dirty work, and partly because I am feeling guilty, even before I have done anything. I get this feeling quite often, and it is part of a little emotional gymnastics routine I go through before I leave home to go on a domestic or international trip.

It goes like this…I know that I have to leave at a certain time (sometimes very early in the morning). So the day before, I begin to go through an emotional funk of knowing that I am going to be away from my family for a few days, needing to get my stuff packed, my tickets printed, all the bills paid, and all errands done. Then I am hit with the realization that I want to spend time with my kids instead of packing a bag. It becomes harder and harder to leave, so I try to plan in advance; more time with my family, more time playing with the kids on the floor, getting ahead of my domestic chores by starting them a few days earlier, etc. So standing at the sink the other day, watching some ants crawl all over spilled sugar bits while running the plates under the faucet, I was reminded of this verse from Deuteronomy 5:32-33.

“So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

So this was God’s word to me that day…DO NOT DEVIATE! After many years of life like this, it would be easy for me to become complacent and apathetic. I could rest on years gone by, great events and wonderful altar calls, and amazing stories of the miraculous from the mission field. But the moment that I did that, it would begin to die. The whole thing would derail, because the command from God to the people of Israel was simply to stay on course. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. Just walking straight without deviation from the path. And the promise was that God Himself would bless them with a place of their own, a home dedicated to their relationship with Him, if they would but stay the course.

It is easy to deviate. Lots of people have good ideas, and they often want you to be involved (or they ask you to “partner” in their good idea, which can sometimes mean they want you to do all the work while they get all the credit). As the years go by, energy levels deplete, joints hurt, bedtime keeps inching earlier and earlier toward 7 PM, and there is more opportunity to do MORE but LESS time to do everything that you need to do. We become distracted by all the things that just have to be done, and those things become tyrants, taking us away from the main things. Jesus Christ, our family, our community, and serving God and others; these are the things we must NEVER deviate from.

I am called. Called to be a husband, a father, and a minister. While I will have innumerable opportunities to become involved in all sorts of other efforts, programs, and good ideas, I must never deviate from these. No matter what I have to say no to, or how much fun I might miss out on, or how I will have to adjust my life in order to stay on the path God has given me to walk, the effort and the sacrifices are worth it.

What is it in your life that you must never deviate from? Have you veered off the path? What will it take to get back on track, to stay the course and be faithful?