OnFire #153  The End From the Beginning

Hi Folks:

I’m back from my canoe trip, only a little worse for the wear. We spent seven days and six nights travelling 85 km, with almost 9 km of portage marked on the map. Considering we had to make two trips, we walked over 27 km, not including the time we walked the canoes through shallow, rocky water. We had fantastic weather, the bugs weren’t bad, and the company was great. The only injuries were bumps, bruises and blisters. Something made my right hand swell and crack to the point I could only hold the paddle, and a knee got sore on the carries, but all is back to normal now.

There is a powerpoint on the website which shows the route and has lots of pictures. Http://www.onfireletter.com

**NOTICE** - I am changing email. The following address will continue to work after we move. onfireletter@gmail.com

We are packing things now. Even though we don’t move until the end of the month, our belongings go on Saturday the 14th. Today I spent part of the day returning books and belongings and visiting friends. All of a sudden it seems real that we will be leaving soon.

Blessings for your week.

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Dan said an interesting thing while we were on one of the first carries of the trip. As we pushed our way back through the bushes and mud to get a second load on a 1400m portage, he commented, “It sure would be a lot easier if we could see the end.”

So true. As the trail twisted and turned, we tried to see some sort of break in the trees to show that we were getting close to the next lake. On and on we stepped until our pile of gear appeared. It would have been nice to know the end was near.

We left Joseph in prison, falsely accused of molesting the boss’s wife. He gained the favour of the jail keeper and soon he was running the place, just as he had run Potiphar’s palace.

Then something happened to give him hope that he might leave the prison. He interpreted the dreams of two inmates, imprisoned for offending the Pharoah. When they were released, he hoped they would remember him and use their influence to set him free. Unfortunately one was executed, and the other forgot about him, and so he remained behind bars.

Genesis 41 opens with dark words: “When two full years had passed...”*

A lot of times it is easier when we can see the end so that we know how much longer we need to keep going. When I was training to be a lifeguard, I counted laps. Quarter done. Half done. Three-quarters done.

There are times, however, when it might be better not to know how much longer we need to go. Would Joseph really want to know he would wait two years? It seems to me that would be very discouraging, at least at the beginning.

What did Joseph do during this time? He kept on going. Another man on our trip, Andrew, had a saying about the carries. He told us a few times, “It is what it is.” In other words, we would finish when we finished. In the meantime, keep walking. Keep going. One foot in front of the other.

Yes, it would be nice to see the end from the beginning. But some journeys are too long to see the end, and so we trust that it will come if we keep going, keep trusting in God that each step takes us one step closer to the time when the difficulty will be behind us.

I hope this helps. Be OnFire.

Troy.

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfireletter@gmail.com  Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com This letter published June 4, 2008. *New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society.