Echoes From the Campfire

[Don Adkisson]

Echoes From the Campfire

     “If you stop pushing on, you lose.... It is always a little further to the top than you think.”
               --Louis L'Amour (Reilly's Luck)

     "If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well."
               --3 John 1:16 (NKJV)
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     I am not much of a beach person, preferring the mountains. However, the times I have lived near the beach we enjoyed it. We liked to get up early, head down and eat breakfast on the beach watching the sun rise. Now, I'm a person who ponders. I would sit with coffee cup in hand looking out over the horizon and think about those that traveled the oceans in days of yore.
     It is similar today, those men on the ships out in the ocean traveling toward a destination, but today the have instruments and maps and technology thanks to those who have traveled before them. Imagine, say 1492, the voyages of discovery; men took off going across the ocean. Day after day all they could see was the horizon. No land in sight, no seemingly progress. Often they didn't think they were moving forward toward their destination--but they were.
     Similar were the travels of the pioneers across the American wilderness. They had to travel across the great plains. Much of the scenery was the same, but travel was slow and often it seemed to them that they were not making much progress. The mountains looked so far away but they left tracks behind them, so they knew there was progress being made.
     Our life is much the same way. We start out on the journey called "life" with only a fuzzy view of what might lie ahead. Others have traveled the journey of life, but it always an individual thing as well. We make goals, but often they seem as if they are not getting closer, there are no markers to gauge our location, therefore, we cannot judge accurately our progress. We are often tempted to believe we are making no progress for God in our walk through life.
     I want to share the following from the writings of Carlos Murphy. See if they depict your life at times.

          "Realize what great advancements are made as we wait motionless on God! God is never still! He is always on the march! Even when, by painful circumstances, we seem pinned down and hemmed in, He is taking us to His desired destination at great speed. Progress in God cannot be measured by the senses of any man!
          ...Watch the sun rise and set. Observe the tides. Though we sit hour after hour, we are moving forward at breathtaking speed! Scientists tell us the earth moves through space at 67,000 miles an hour! In a full day, we will travel more than 2.6 million miles!
          Ponder another lesson. The sun always moves in the same direction. It rises in the east. It does not hurry. It is never lost. It never doubles back. At the appointed time, it reaches the western horizon and disappears from view.
          So it is with lives ordered by God. He is always moving forward! He is never hurried and never lost. He never doubles back. He knows how long it will take to arrive at His destination, and He sets out to arrive right on time.
          Take heart, then! Our progress cannot be measured by carnal eyes! We are borne along by God, moving ever forward on His charted course. We will arrive safely in due time!" (Heart At Rest)

     Sometimes in the midst of the battle, we lose sight of time. The enemy keeps attacking and there is no rest, no respite in the action of the enemy. We have seemingly gained no ground. We are beset by the same sins. We are wearied of mind, body, and soul. This is not the time to give up, but to hold on and continue forward. Our progress in our eyes may not be fast, in fact, it may seem as if we are losing ground, but hold on--the Lord knows where He is taking us. Do not lose heart, do not quit for progress is being made.

D.C. Adkisson