A several years i was lead to venture out of my normal spiritual practice and do something off the wall: Plant a church. This idea was met with seemingly equal amounts of support and scorn (I'm not sure what the percentage was). As my wife and i were thinking/discussing this idea, my oldest daughter came up with a question:
"Dad, what the name of the church going to be?"
This being so early in the process, i realized that i hadn't really thought about what to call this work. There is something within me that says names are important, i believe they carry within them the origin of an idea. Well at least they do for me.
"Gideon's Call Fellowship", I replied. This was not something i had running around in my mind.
But the name fit. More on what happened with the church plant later.....
Years later , when trying to blog for the first time, the thought of Gideon crossed my mind again and the issue of direction came to the forefront. I have always struggled with what do in my life. Whether it was too many options, too many talents (subtext!!!!), or whatever. I had a hard time deciding on what i needed/wanted/desired to do. Cue my friend, Gideon.
Gideon was a young man who, reluctantly, was given a seriously difficult task by God. Before taking this task, he wanted assurances:
a) the task that God had for him was the right one
b) that he (Gideon) was the right one for the job
So we have Gideon using a unique way of inquiring of God. He takes a fleece (a covering made of sheep's wool) and lays it down on the ground. Gideon's verification would come if, in the morning, his fleece was wet and the ground was dry. Next morning, fleece is wet and ground is dry. Gideon wanting ABSOLUTE confirmation decides to reverse the parameters and wants the fleece dry and the ground wet. Next morning, fleece is dry and ground is wet.
I'm not constructing a sermon or lesson so I'll get to the point. Gideon wanted assurance. Direction would come later. As a matter of fact, once he was assured of what God said (the task was right and that he was the one for the task), all of the other weird, miraculous, supernatural stuff took place later.
What's with the title? The title of this blog remind me to always look for the same things that Gideon look for. Assurance of God's leading and assurance that i am the man He as called for the task.
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