Looking Back

Reading about Abraham in the Old Testament is a favorite story for me. I love Abraham and his amazing, incredible faith in what God would do for him and his family. Here God calls him out of his homeland and tells Abraham to go to a new, foreign land he'd never been to or seen before. Abraham had no map, but He had God.

I've caught myself twice in the last 24 hours saying something about my "homeland" (Colorado). As I've said before, when we tossed around the idea of moving to Wichita, Kansas, I had to look on a map just to see where Wichita was! I had no idea where this new land was that God was calling me to. I had lived in Colorado 12.5 years and it had definitely become my "home"land.

Yesterday I jokingly confessed to my friends that I still had my Colorado driver's license, just in case I was called back home. Today, I told a friend that I still have my cell phone number as a Fort Collins, CO number (970 area code) because it's the one thing that still helps me feel connected to Colorado.

Can you imagine Abraham living in Canaan, the land God had called him to, the Promised Land, yet he still sighs, looking back towards the land of Ur, wondering what life would have been like "back home"? Ludicrous! I believe Abraham would have been dishonoring to God by not appreciating the present. What makes Abraham's testimony so strong is that he DID NOT look back!

I feel I am dishonoring God by looking back at what we left behind. I sincerely need to stop looking behind, over my shoulder at what I've left behind and keep my eyes on the horizon -the future! (Remember the story of Lot's wife who looked at what lied behind her? ... sure don't want that same outcome!)

God is going to do great things here in Wichita. I only need to thank Him for where I am and appreciate where He's going to take me next. With God, it's got to be a more promising future than the wonderful past I've left behind.