14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
For the last 12 days, my son Cade and I have been traveling the countryside. We had the opportunity to reunite with a college roommate and current Brazil missionary, Nick Fowler and his son and do some fishing, we worked a basketball camp at Freed-Hardeman University, and then we finished up the trip with some family time in my hometown. It was a wonderful trip which produced many great and lasting memories for both myself and hopefully my son.
In driving the 12+ hours to and from TN, I was given plenty of time to think about different things in life. I pondered things such as what offense should our team run this year, what gifts should I get Cade for Christmas, why do the same commercials play on Sirius radio all day long. There was also deeper thoughts on what our nation is facing in terms of violence and hatred. This last part took way too much time in my thoughts. It is hard for me to imagine having the type of hatred towards another person and then to act upon it in violent acts is way too far for my mind to wrap itself around. We live in a world where the negative things are broadcast much more than all the good things which are happening. We tend to form our opinions of situations and others based up facts, figures, and experiences which might have negative slants. We are called to love one another. How come this is so hard to grasp and express? I for one am not perfect by any means or measurements. I fall short of perfection on a daily basis but I also serve and believe in a Heavenly Father who is willing to forgive as long as I am willing to work on those shortcomings.
In the scripture above, much attention is given to Joshua and his proclamation of his family will serve the Lord. Look at the next few verses though and see that those he was talking to also made the decision to serve the Lord. These were people who were not living right and were worshiping gods other than the one true living God. This tells me there is hope for those around us which need it. Let us focus our lives on being better individual Christians today and having a POSITIVE influence on those around us. Remember the battle for souls is the same as it was a week ago and will be the same a week for now!
