I woke up singing – I haven’t heard this song in a very long time but there is was on the tip of my tongue. Waiting for the coffee to finish brewing the lyrics kept running through my mind.
“There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It’s what you leave behind you when you go.” by Randy Travis
A couple of weeks ago while we were in the mountains we had this discussion with our daughter about her upbringing. We talked about the times that Dave and I said no to her and her brother’s request to go on a particular activity. (This happened more than once.) There was really no good reason to say no but we didn’t have a peace about it.
They would plead and nag as only teenagers could but we stood firm. “If we don’t have a peace about it, we won’t say yes. We will pray and if God gives us a “yes” we’ll let you know”. I only remember us changing our decision once. Nothing, that we knew of, ever happened at these events which could have effected our kids negatively and for that we are grateful. But we didn’t have peace.
“And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].” Colossians 3:15 AMPC
Let the peace of God rule in our hearts. The word rule means to act as the umpire. The umpire in a baseball game is the one standing behind the plate to call balls and strikes. He says what is fair and what is foul. He makes the call of safe or out. That’s what God’s peace does in our hearts.
If there’s no peace, don’t go. If there’s no peace, don’t buy it. If there’s no peace, don’t agree. If there’s no peace, don’t push the door open. Wait for God’s plan! We might be nervous about what God has planned because we have never done “this” before but even so, we will be at peace.
On that same camping trip we were talking about our drive up the mountain. Dave and I pulled off at a rest area and it was packed. It took us off the road longer than we had wanted. We were tempted to complain about the delay until…we went one-half mile further up the road to stand-still traffic and we realized if we had been there sooner we could have been involved in an accident.
“Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. 7 And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.” Philippians 4:6-7 ERV
I am certainly thankful for the hundreds of times when I’ve known the Lord has kept me from harm’s way but I am even more grateful for the thousands of times that I know He has protected me and I’ve not even seen the danger.
“He will command his angels to protect you wherever you go.” Psalm 91:11 ERV