Emma is two, Brady is three. Susie and I were watching them while their mom and dad went to a pastor’s conference in Vancouver. As their parents were driving out of our driveway I was pulling them in the Red Flyer wagon down the driveway on our war to the park down the street. I moved the wagon to the side of the driveway so their parents car could safely get by us. I put us on a little side hill and as we were waving to their mom and dad I started to pull them forward. The sidehill caused the wagon to tip over and spill my grandkids out on the driveway as their mom and dad were looking in the rear view mirror. They both started screaming and I wasn’t sure which one to pick up first. As I was making that decision their mom had run back and started to console them. Man was she fast. Boy those Red Flyers are unstable on sidehills.
Life dumps us out sometimes. We get in unstable places. We aren’t cared for very well by the people who are supposed to care for us. Life happens is a way I say it most often. Psalm 139 declares to us that even when life happens, or in dark unstable places, God is there. “Even there Your hand will lead me” is what the Psalmist says. “And Your right hand will lay hold of me” is how it continues. The “right hand” signifies the powerful hand of God to protect and care for His people. That is the hand, the power, that is available to those who love him.
That is great comfort in these unstable times.

The giants in life take many forms. They are powerfully built. They are positioned against us. Determined to destroy us. Each of us without much thought can start to name them. The things we battle against. The things we have determined oppose our prosperity. The giants.
David is facing the Philistine, the giant, and declares; “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you.” And then he walks out and does just that. Takes his smooth stone, puts it in his sling, lets it fly, strikes down the giant. There is so much there for us to learn. Here is what it says to me today, every time I read the Word of God I get something new, but here is what I needed to see and hear today: First, make the declaration, speak to the giant the truth of who is for you, the living God. Second, walk out, stop hiding, quit not facing your giant, walk out, take him on. Third, load up, be prepared. Pray, study, get yourself ready for the battle. Fourth, let it fly. Take no prisoners, unleash the onslaught. Jesus declared that nothing is impossible for those who love and follow Him. He declared we would trample on snakes and scorpions. That we would defeat the giants. Let it fly!

Sunday was Easter and the house was packed. I got word that a man in uniform was among us. I love to honor those who are serving our nation when they come to church so as I took the podium I asked him to stand so we could thank him. As he did the congregation applauded loudly. I was proud of their response and to be honest got a little teary, I do that.
After the service standing at the front of the auditorium was the soldier. He said simply to me, “I gave my life to Christ, it was time.” He’d been coming to church and had not been in uniform before but it was this day, Resurrection Sunday, that it all came together for him and he decided to surrender his life to Christ. My heart was leaping, this is what I live for, to see people come to Christ. In the next moment he threw his arms around me in a big embrace. He thanked me and talked over and over about how “it was time”. I encouraged him and thanked him for taking his time and making sure he knew what he was doing, the commitment he was making. He must have embraced me four or five times as we talked.
I loved it. Because it was real. This young man, this soldier, had made a very real commitment to the King of Kings. And he embraced the messenger who was humbled by the way God had moved.