3.30.9 "Fruit for the Journey"

"Fruit for the Journey"

Deuteronomy 13:1-15:23
Luke 8:40-9:6
Psalm 71:1-24
Proverbs 12:5-7

"Video games are good for your eyes!" That's what the news said this morning... not sure that's worth spending too much time playin' or not... I do enjoy video games, though... When I was a kid my neighbor had the first video game I had ever seen. It was Amazing! the fact that you could control something on your black and white TV screen! The skill required to play this game was intense. The game was called "Pong"!

My cousin had another type of video game on his Commodore 64. This game was page after page of text. It was basically a story of an adventure. You would walk from room to room and find things in each room. For example, you would come into a room and it would say there was a table in the corner. you would then type in "look at table". It would then say "On the table there is a blue key". Now here's what separated the good players from the amateurs. The amateurs would think, "Cool, but I don't need a blue key," and move on. The experts would type in "pick up key". Sure enough a little farther on in the journey they would encounter a "Blue Door". There were a few times a guy would say, "Man, I wish I would have picked up that key!"

So why the trip down memory lane? Well we are all on this adventure game of life. Thankfully, It's slightly more exciting and more intense than the old Commodore 64. We never know what we are going to encounter, and whether we realize it or not, there are little items that we discover that we need for the journey ahead.

"O Lord, you alone are my hope; I've trusted you from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth and have helped me constantly - no wonder I am always praising you!' (Ps. 71:5-6)

The experiences we have in life give us the ammunition to praise him. It is the fruit for our journey. Sometimes the best fruit grows in the darkest valleys. We will often cry out in the middle of sickness or times of mourning, "I don't need this!" But the truth is, we've got options when it comes to how we react to difficult times. We can just complain and "endure", or we can glean the fruit we need, pick it up and use it for the journey ahead. We will always find that when we've chosen to "pick up" the fruit, we will find a "blue door" down the road, and there's no way we could pass through without the experiences of that valley.

"I will keep on expecting you to help me. I praise you more and more. I cannot count the times when you have faithfully rescued me from danger. I will tell everyone how good you are, and of your constant, daily care. I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good... I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness." (vs. 14-16, 24)

The only way the fruit of the journey we've traveled does us any good is if we use it. We need to constantly tell of God's faithfulness. We need to tell of the way that he has delivered us and freed us, and sustained us through difficult times.

If you are in a difficult time right now, you need to type in, "use fruit", and begin to testify of the great things God has done for you in the past. This is the key to the victorious Christian life.



Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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