This past Friday and Saturday, our daughter Geneva and I were able to complete another 25 km hiking the Bruce Trail. This brought us to the end of the Sydenham Section which is the longest of the 900 km total at 174 km. The Sydenham Section ends in Wiarton. We had planned the time for our hike, but of course the uncertainty is the weather. We can never know what the weather conditions will be like and how this will affect our trek on the trail. On Friday, we were able to complete our 15 km just a short time before a significant downpour when the skies opened up and there was heavy rain. We wondered what it would be like for our last 10 km which we planned to do on Saturday. Through the night, we could hear the rain still coming down at various points. We wanted to be safe for the 10 km along Skinners Bluff. When Saturday morning dawned, the rain had stopped and although misty, we were able to be on the trail safely and were grateful to finish the hiking we had planned. This experience so parallels life. There are times of uncertainty about what to do and whether to wait or to proceed. Sometimes the conditions for what we hope to do affect being able to carry things out at a particular time. Our opportunity, as people of faith in all this uncertainty, is to trust our God. Consider the Scripture that records the response of Moses and Miriam when God parted the waters and safely brought the people of Israel through the Red Sea, “In Your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed. In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.” (Exodus 15:13) We can be grateful for God’s unfailing love for us. We can trust Him in His strength to guide us each step of the way to our final destination. This will be the inspiration for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow May 24th at 1 pm. Please plan to join us.
Looking to God to lead us with His unfailing love and to give us strength, Pastor Lola
Our God of grace, we thank You for Your unfailing love that we experience again and again. You do lead us with Your love and give us courage for all the aspects of our journeys that we are uncertain about. Sometimes we are wondering whether or not to proceed on a particular path. Please remind us to keep seeking You and to keep looking to You for direction. When there are less than ideal conditions or there are obstacles that interfere with our plans, please show us how to respond. You did not promise that the way would be easy. We recognize that our misplaced expectations can find us trying to avoid anything that we consider difficult. God, You most certainly remain with us and do not leave us to try to figure things out by ourselves. When we are feeling insecure about our ability to stay well having come through the pandemic, we pray for reassurance about what is needed to keep people healthy. When we face financial insecurity and wonder how we will cover basic needs, we pray for Your provision for our every need. When we feel weak and question whether we can find the strength to keep going, please remind us of Your unfailing love and renew our strength, as we depend on You. Our God when we have seen Your answers to prayer, we do not want to become casual. We pray that we will acknowledge that You are the Source of all that is good. And when the climb is steep and hazardous, we want to have You lead us and give us strength. We think of the recent passing of people whom we have known and loved. We pray for comfort. We also pray for a regarding of every day of life as a sacred gift from You. We never want to slip into taking life for granted. Please guide us in deeply appreciating the potential in each new day. And God since Your dwelling is holy, we pray to be regarding Your holiness and choosing to follow this pattern in living lives of holiness. We continue to pray for Jesus to become more and for us to become less. May all of this increase our dependence on You and our awareness of Your unfailing love to give us strength. In Jesus’ holy Name. AMEN