The End of A Relationship

The people of Israel were set to leave Egypt. (Ex 13:17-22) They were marching out on God's terms. God led them around a possible confrontation with the Philistines (I Cor 10:13) because he knew the people of Israel would flee back to Egypt for protection if faced with war. They needed to learn that Egypt was not their protection but God was their protector. He led them to the Red Sea which looked to be a dead end and possible recapture by Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea was really the division of a relationship. God wanted to end the relationship between Israel and Egypt permanently. He knew they needed to leave their old life behind. Can we see a message for us here? When we accept Christ as our Savior we need to leave our old life behind which means we need to sever some relationships to do that. We need to practice this in our lives daily as our faith to solely depend on God grows. There will always be times in our christian life that we need to lay aside things that are preventing us from moving forward for the Lord. (Heb 12:1-2)

The cost of Freedom

I was thinking while sitting in church yesterday as we watched video about veterans. The cost of the lives lost over the last century. You begin to realize that most of the lives lost were very young lives. It leads me to think not just of lost lives but lost potential too. What would these young people have accomplished in their lifetime?
The loss of life and potential is enough but then I began to think of the fact these young people could have possibly given their soul too (Matt 16:26). We can begin now praying earnestly that the young men and women serving around the world will find Christ. We need to convey to these young people that we admire their service to our country but we need to make sure they don't have to give their soul. I know that our government does all they can to prepare these young people physically and mentally to go to war. I just wish that there is some way we could prepare them spiritually too.