Peace in the woods

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

Letting go of trying to over analyze new spaces and controlling hard situations is tricky on our own. I sit here today after having ridden over 100 miles on a new to me mountain bike I purchased weeks previous. In this exciting place of riding the trails on a new bike, I have come to many beautiful revelations of the Spirit and have found myself profoundly wondering about the nature of God and our journey with our Father and Creator. We have a such a unique and beautiful God who can scarcely be described in the english language to a degree that is satisfactory. What I can say is that He is life giving (1 Corinthians 15:45), rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), full of grace (John 1:14), steadfast in righteousness (James 1:12), loving beyond measure (1 John 4:18), fair in judgement (2 Timothy 4:8), kind hearted (Romans 2:4), sole provider for our souls (2 Peter 1:11), the everlasting (Romans 8:38-39), beginning and the end (Revelation 21:6), redeemer and refiner (Psalm 19:14), wise beyond our understanding(1 Corinthians 1:25), the King of kings (1 Timothy 6:15), and our greatest friend (John 15:15). In spending time on the trails, I have been taught so many things as to who our King really is, and it has been a riveting journey, that I know will continue for as long as I pursue Him.

Three simple things I’ve come to find when biking:

1. A new bike takes time to become wildly confident to trust it to stay upright on every turn, root, and rock.

2. Consistent rides takes practice, and a commitment to loving what you are doing even when it seems impossible.

3. When you look ahead at the bigger picture, technical sections and scary descents become thrilling instead of second guessing.

When God is calling you into a new season or out of an old one, it can be daunting, and discouraging because it is like navigating a brand new trail, brand new bike, or both and nothing feels right. I am in a place where God has ripped the rug out from under me in one area and is breathing brand new life into another. You may be in a place where all it seems is crashing around you, called to a new adventure, or somewhere in the middle. You know where you are, and if you don’t you should stop and pray out loud over it for clarity. The best part of whatever place you are in right now with your life, is that God is unchanging unlike the bike or the trail. We tend to fall on the rocks or fly over the handlebars, but God surely isn’t, He’s just waiting for you to come to Him with the burdens or questions you carry and rely on Him to help you navigate the roots and rocks. He desires to remind you that the handlebars of your bike may feel different, the gears may not be the same, but your purpose and your God have not changed. God brings us to and through all kinds of change and growth that may feel different or even be painful, but what He wants you to see is that there is fruit and beauty on the other side. God wants you to grow in your relationship with Him and be a conquerer of those new trails or that new bike. In this then you can lead others to be trail warriors as well.

For rides on the trails to get consistent, they take commitment, courage, and love for the journey even when the going gets rough. Getting into a good rhythm with God or creating new habits with God take time, consistency, and love. The ride of life is those mountains and valleys no doubt, but we have a choice. We can either wander around by ourselves stumbling over rocks and roots, get lost somewhere along the way, or look at Jesus for guidance and reassurance. Deep positive change in life requires it to come our of a place of love, sheer will power rarely, if ever changes us. Love drives all things in our lives. So who loves us the most, Jesus, who should we love the most, Jesus. Why? Because there is no greater love than the love God has for us, shown through the life, death, and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ. What is the sure way to create consistency with God, chase the love of Christ and accept the love He displays for you. Prayer time, bible study, ministry work, worship, generosity, joy, healthy friendships, marriage, church community, mental health, emotional health, etc are all places where God may be calling you to dive deeper and become consistent. The only way this can happen is through an understanding of His love for you, and a desire to get to know Him. In this the rocky sections of life you’ve attempted to navigate on your own, the sketchy downhill roots you keep falling on, or places you walk your bike down, fade away. Even those places you just straight up avoid because you don’t think you can handle it, God can, and He desires to do it with you. God wants to get consistent in His time with you in EVERY SINGLE AREA. I mean, literally, every facet of your life, God wants to touch it and make it beautiful. You have to know Him and love Him first, that cultivates change and growth. Then you have to accept what He wants to do in you and say yes. Finally you find consistency and see the fruit of your labors.

Hardest lesson learned on the trails, scary things are way easier if you JUST KEEP GOING FORWARD. The worst thing you can do on a trail when biking is over analyze a technical rocky or rooty section and hit the brakes. It almost always ends in falling of the bike or stepping off and walking it over. Neither of these results help you learn how to navigate the difficult sections you come across. Life is filled with difficult decisions, unknowns, scary situations, and all kinds of oh crap moments. When we panic, overthink, stare at the problem, fixate on one thing, or run fifty scenarios in our head of what ifs, it is like hitting the brakes in a non helpful way bringing you to a skidding stop or a really rough walk around that avoids an issue other than facing it full on. The best question is, where was God in all of that navigation, probably not there, because He doesn’t panic, or lose sight of the greater picture before you. When the going gets tricky, technical, scary, or difficult, that is where God wants to jump in and show you the best path to get to the other side. Relationship with God requires momentum, consistency and trust. You have to trust Him with the bigger narrative of your life in order to trust Him with the little nuances that like to derail you or scare you. He will make the scariest places a daring joyride, that leads you to bold trust in His capability to lead you, and lead others to the other side even when it seems insane or nothing looks ‘right.’ Sometimes He just wants to see if you will jump and trust the bike and tires underneath you to grip on to every surface and keep ripping down the trail or climb up the steep ascent. God will not skid out from underneath you or navigate your life poorly. He is our everything, the alphabet of who we are in Him.

God is the alphabet of our lives, our A-Z, almighty, advocate, anointed, all in all, brother, builder, beginning, beloved, blessed, bright morningstar, captain of salvation, counselor, crown of righteousness, creator, deliverer, days men, dayspring, emmanuel, ensign, everlasting, foundation, forerunner, first born, friend, faithful, guide, governor, glory, God of gods, giver, holiness, health, hope, Holy one, head of all, horn of salvation, great I am, intercessor, judge, Jesus, King, kinsman redeemer, Lord, lawgiver, light, liberator, love, master, mediator, Messiah, mercy seat, meek and lowly, merciful one, minister, naked crucified King, nobility, Nazarene, overcomer, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, overseer, peace, power, pardon, physician, passover, prophets, redeemer, ransom, refiner, refuge, restorer, shield, sanctuary, sanctification, shiloh, song, star, salvation, sacrifice, strength, teacher, truth, treasure, threshold, thrice Holy, tune, throne, unchanging, undefiled, unsearchable, vine, virgin born, word, wonderful, wipes our tears, worthy to open seals, worship, wrath, yesterday today and forever, zeal of our hearts. The alphabet of God, is Jesus, the sweetest name of all.

Jesus is everything we could ever desire in someone as the satisfier of our souls. My hope is that you desire to understand who He is and cultivate relationship with Him, because He came for you, and deeply desires to walk this life with you. God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in His son. Then our lives reflect the beauty of God in our daily lives, down to the deepest parts of who we are. This is God’s greatest desire over your life, to desire to know Him, love Him, and seek to do life with Him guiding you. God wants all of the glory and is jealous for your heart, He wants you, every last piece, so He can refine you into His beautiful reflection as His child, like He originally intended.