A memory! Already . . . traveling to Arkansas for Strong in the Lord and Radiant Purity conferences is a memory. How can that be? So much prayer, so much study, so many hours on the road, so much anticipation and then --- woosh! Just like that and we've all returned to our various and sundry homes and are thrust back into the daily grind, trying to let all that we learned soak deeply into our hearts.
Soak deeply. I remember my dad holding up a chunk of wood for all of us kids to see one Summer day years ago. It wasn't/isn't uncommon for him to have an object lesson to go along with our "wisdom searches", and this time he had a section of a bridge plank that had been soaked in creosote. Creosote is an oily liquid made from coal and wood tar, and is used mainly as a preservative for wood, in order to make it last a very long time. He had cut a cross section into the plank and let us all look at it.
When we saw the piece of wood, we realized that the creosote, though smothering the wood on the outside, had only sunk in to the wood partially. It didn't reach deeply; it didn't soak far at all! The creosote was almost entirely external. Dad then went on to say how sometimes we are like that bridge plank; how often the things that God desires to reach down into our hearts and remain there, barely even touch the surface.
One of the things I pray for desperately is that the young ladies (particularly those in my small groups who are especially on my mind!), mothers (and fathers!) who come would not simply experience a "spiritual high" at these conferences, only to return home and forget or loose their enthusiasm for what the Lord impressed upon them to live out, but that the work, the words, the prayers would reach deeper and deeper into all of our lives until it becomes a part of who we are.
More pictures to come!Labels: BRIGHT LIGHTS, DISCIPLESHIP, TRAVEL
