Keep Walkin

"What are you doing?" " We're going to knock your walls down." " By walking around in circles?" "Yes, Its not cause we're crazy or anything, our God told us to do it this way."- Veggie tales, Josh and the Big Wall

 Look at those weird Israelite people walking around our giant wall. What are they hoping to accomplish? What is their end goal? Surely this can't be any kind of well thought out plan that will lead to our demise.  All they are doing is walking in circles, making themselves dizzy.

The story of Joshua and the city of Jericho is one of the most well known bible stories of all time. It is a story of a group of people who were told exactly what to do from God and they did. In case you don't know the story, here is a little background. Moses was the leader of the people of Israel. Through the help of God, He led the people out if slavery and into the desert for 40 years. Why the desert you asks. Well God had promised them the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, but as the people were checking it out, they got scared. Because they did not trust God to go before them, He made them wait in the desert, literally right outside a better land. 40 years go by, and the scared generation has all died off, except for 2 individuals, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua was Moses' predecessor who took up his mantle after Moses died. Like Moses, Joshua sends men into the city of Jericho, the first city over the Jordan river. The men come back and report that the people of the city are terrified of them, like the older generation was terrified of the Canaanites. So, like any Christian should do when a tough situation arises, Joshua excused himself from camp and went off by himself to pray. As he was praying, an angel of the Lord appeared before him and laid out this simple plan to him. Walk around the city once a day fro 6 days, and on the 7th day, walk around 7 times. After you finish the 7th time, shout as loud as you can. The walls of Jericho will then fall down. Hold on a second. Big wall in front of me, surrounding a large city, and a group of people following me wherever I lead them and you want me to tell them just to a little bit. Ok God, clearly you know what is best. Here we go. So Joshua leads the people around the wall. During the first 6 days, the people walk in silence. Not a word, not a sound. I can imagine that this caused a lot of buzz within the walls of the city. "Hey, come look over here. Its those Israelites walking around our wall. What do you think they want?" "Hey, you Israelite. What are you doing?" Thanks to Veggie tales, I can't picture this scene without seeing little peas in soldier caps mocking and throwing slushies on the heads of the people. Through all the mocking and calling out, the people stay silent. Finally, the 7th day comes around. The Israelites walk around the wall. 1st, 2nd, 3rd time around. 4th, 5th, 6th and their still walking. The people of Jericho are probably wondering what is about to happen. We get no indication of fear or pride from the people. At last, the people walk around the final time. This time, they stop, and at once, they shout like they have never shouted before. The people of Jericho are probably scared for a moment, but when nothing happens at first, they begin to laugh. " Wait, is that it? Was that your whole plan? Walk the city a few times then shout? You Israelites really are...Did you feel that? Has that brick always been out of place? Uh oh!"
After the people shouted a victory shout, God began taking apart the wall in a matter of moments. he people went into the city and plundered it. Has God ever told you to walk the path he has given you to walk? "But God, how can walking fix anything?" Sometimes, in order to get a path straight through your problem, you have to walk around it a few times to show it who is really in charge. Then, when the time is right, you shout as if you have already won, and God will take care of the rest.
Keep Walking, God will continue to lay out the path as long as you continue to follow it.

Adam Semple- A Young Man On A Mission

photo credit- Veggie tales Josh and The Big Wall

Tupperware

Have you ever realized that we are just containers? Empty vessels just waiting to be filled. The Bible says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The temple is just a building if there is nothing inside of it. Sure, it may look really extravagant on the outside, a real beauty, but if there is nothing filling up the vastness, it is just a pretty house. Imagine a Tupperware container. Cheap plastic with a cheap plastic lid. Nothing fancy, yet people have been using them to hold their food for decades. The same is true for us. For thousands of years, God has been using us, an empty vessel, as his temple/resting place. Humans, who were formed out of dirt, are the containers God wanted to use to put his spirit. Tupperware is made better by the things that are put inside, just as we are made different by what is put inside of us. The holy spirit comes into our temple and because God's glory is so great, it shines through our meager vessel and people see what is inside. God has put himself in us, it is our job to keep the inside clean so that when people look in, they see the goodness of The Creator, rather than the filth of what was once inside. Admit it, before Christ filled your temple, however old you might have been, there was probably some things that should not have been there. The good news is, when God sends his Holy Spirit into your soul, He fills you to the brink with himself, and pushes everything else out. The good, the bad and the ugly. Your past, washed out. Made clean when God washed away your sins. Every once in a while, you might find a Tupperware that is not clear, but rather stained, making it harder to see inside. These containers are the people who have been filled with God's spirit, yet they have let other things come in and push aside the spirit. Like spaghetti sauce that has been left too long without getting washed out. Things that distract us from the fresh food inside. Things that people see first rather than what you what them to see. Maybe it is time to do some hard scrubbing and make your Tupperware clear and see through once again. Cleaning these containers is rarely easy, especially when the stains have been there a while. Thankfully, it only takes a little faith for God to make you good as new. A brand new Tupperware container clean on the inside and the out, ready to show the world what is truly underneath the surface. So let us become Tupperware for God, rather than assume we are a beautiful masterpiece by our own design. It is God who made us, and it is God who shines through us to do his work. 

"For do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's"- 1 Corinthians 6:19

Adam Semple- A young man on  mission from God  

Drawing Faces

Drawing Faces is not an easy thing to do. You have to make sure everything is even and in its proper place, as well as ensure that when it is done, it looks good to the person it is copied after. I am an Artist. I love to draw and imagine and showcase what I have done. Sometimes, unexpectedly, my eyes will look at a patch on a wall, and in my head, I see a face. Rarely is it ever the same face, but it is a face nonetheless. When I see the face, I picture how I can draw it out on paper so people can see what I see, but no matter how hard I try, it never looks quite right. Not only that, but if I look away from the spot for too long and try to stumble upon the face once more, my brain only sees the remnant of what once was. I feel like life can be like this somehow. We start off with nothing but a blank slate, then suddenly, we get something. An image. A face. We visualize it in our head, and we think about what we are to do with this image.  But then we look away. We get distracted by another spot and after we have regained our focus, we can't seem to find what was just there. So we do 1 of 2 things. 1) We try to force our brain to remember the image, or 2) we simply walk away as if nothing happened. More often than not, the face is a fleeting image lost in the mazes of our head, never to be rediscovered by our eyes. But what if the face was shown to you for more. Perhaps it was a person God was asking you to talk to, yet you were so focused on trying to recapture the moment, that you missed God's little whisper or nudge. I can't tell you how many of these faces I have seen in my years as an artist. Some are silly, and strange. Others are regular looking people who think they are simply lost in the crowd. What if we need to find them, and guide them home. What if that person has been standing next to you the whole time, but you were so busy with your world that you never took notice of them. Maybe, I am just a little crazy in my head. Maybe they are just faces. But what if their not? Perhaps God has shown these to me so that As I draw them, I think about who they are, what they do, how they live. It might be beneficial to pray for these people, without knowing if they are even real at all. A little prayer could be all that person needs from you. God could be taking any opportunity he can get to push us into praying on a whim when something flashes by our heads. Never underestimate the power of a simple prayer. It could save a life, or fill a person with supernatural peace. Your prayer could be the answer to theirs. To know that somebody is thinking about them even though they don't know me, and I don't know them. I will continue to draw. It is my hope that I haven't missed entirely God's nudges, but that from now on, when a face crosses my mind, I do something about. It is my prayer that you will do the same.

From an inspiring artist using the gifts he has been given,
Adam Semple- a young man on a mission from God.

*photo credit- everyonecandraw.net