Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Dear Friends of Endurance:
As we continue with our journey through the Discipleship Handbook, we are confronted with the “fear” of God. During my early years of growing up I recall having an unhealthy view of the “fear of God.” I actually thought that God was someone you couldn’t get close to. Years later when I became a follower of Jesus what compelled me to put my trust in Jesus was His desire to have a personal relationship with me! No longer did I feel I couldn’t get close to God because He was to be “feared” but He actually calls me His Friend and I am His.

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
PROVERBS 9:10 (NLT)

Anytime someone encounters God in the Bible, they fall flat on their face in fear; which is actually an appropriate response if you consider it.

This type of fear, however, should not drive us away, but draw us in. In C.S. Lewis’ classic book The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, one exchange between Susan and Mr. Beaver captures this idea of the kind of fear and wonder that draws you in:

“Aslan is a lion – The Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh,” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“Safe?” Said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

We are told in Proverbs that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Proverbs 9:10. This fear of God is by nature humble, recognizing that God is God, and we are not. When we have humble reverence for God, we are ready to receive and follow His instruction, which leads to abundant life and a life well lived.

As you set your mind and heart upon the all-powerful Creator with humility and reverence, you will find yourself taking the first big step towards knowing God and discovering your purpose and unique calling.

REFLECTION:
When or where do you most often experience this type of humble fear and reverence for God? How would you describe what it feels like?

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Seven Truths About God

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers –
the moon and the stars you set in place –
What are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
PSALM 8:3-4 (NLT)

In Exodus 3:14, when Moses asks God to name Himself, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM.” There is so much foundational truth about God packed into this one name. Here are seven truths about God we discover from this name: He is independent and self-existent, with no beginning and no end. Before the earth and universe existed, He existed in absolute reality -There was no reality before Him, and no reality exists outside of Him creating it.God contains within Himself unbounded and unlimited resources of energy, life, and power.
He is the Source of all things, and depends on nothing to have His being , to support Him, or to counsel Him.
He is free and able to do all that He pleases (omnipotent), and nothing or no one can thwart His plans.
He alone defines what is true, right, beautiful, and good, and knows all things (omniscient) all truth beauty, and goodness find their ultimate source in Him alone.
He is eternal and unchanging and present everywhere (omnipresent). He is “the yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In John 4:24, Jesus says, “God is spirit,” which means that He is non-material, not confined to space or distance or natural processes, and present everywhere. He fills the universe as the waters fill the seas. Nothing can even come close to comparing to Him, as Isaiah 40:17 says, “All the nations are as nothing before Him.” The immense vastness and glory of creation simply testify and point to His Divine power and majesty (Romans 1:20).
He is worthy to be praised. Nothing is worth more than God.

O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!
PSALM 8:9

REFLECTION:
Which of these “I AM” truths about God impact you most and why?

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured

Be happy with those who are happy,
and weep with those who weep.
ROMANS 12:15 (NLT)

The ministry of Endurance was birthed out of our compassion for those who hurt because we know the need for compassion when one is going through the valleys along life’s journey. And we know where the source of all comfort comes from: “God is our merciful Father and source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) We love how Henri Nouwen shares what true compassion really looks like:

“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”
BY HENRI NOUWEN

Finally, all of you,
be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another,
be compassionate and humble.
1 PETER 3:8 (NIV)

Excerpted from “You are the Beloved” by Henri J.M. Nouwen
To receive Henri Nouwen’s Daily Meditations go to henrinouwen.org

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky

Endurance for the Journey, Featured

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9 (NIV)

Over the last few years I have been increasingly aware that true healing mostly takes place through the sharing of weakness. Mostly we are so afraid of our weaknesses that we hide them at all cost and thus make them unavailable to others but also often to ourselves. And, in this way, we end up living double lives even against our own desires: one life in which we present ourselves to the world, to ourselves, and to God as a person who is in control and another life in which we feel insecure, doubtful, confused, and anxious and totally out of control.

The split between these two lives causes us a lot of suffering. I have become increasingly aware of the importance of overcoming the great chasm between these two lives and am becoming more and more aware that facing, with others, the reality of our existence can be the beginning of a truly free life.

It is amazing in my own life that true friendship and community became possible to the degree that I was able to share my weaknesses with others. Often I became aware of the fact that in the sharing of my weaknesses with others, the real depths of my human brokenness and weakness and sinfulness started to reveal themselves to me, not as a source of despair but as a source of hope.

As long as I try to convince myself or others of my independence, a lot of my energy is invested in building up my own false self. But once I am able to truly confess my most profound dependence on others and on God, I can come in touch with my true self and real community can develop.

On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky