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Saying Good-byes...

Last night with our 11 summer interns
...saying good-bye can be a mixture of emotions that can make life messy.  But saying good-byes I have learned since childhood is very important in order to bring closure.  Not saying a good-bye can make saying hello even harder.

It is hard to believe that another group of summer interns have come and gone in my three summers of living here in the Dominican Republic.  These 11 young people have had such a passion for serving and obeying our Lord that they came to the Dominican Republic to do just that...obey and serve.  I have enjoyed getting to know them and to hear their hearts and how God has been using them, changing them, transforming their own lives, and being a light to the kids and our staff and our missionaries.

God had me share a passage of Scripture that I have meditated on since I was at Cherry Run Camp last summer through a message by Pastor Stan Key.  God is good through Exodus 15:22-27.  God leading the Hebrew people to the Desert of Shur and bringing them to the waters of Marah.  The intentionality of God leading his people through a desert without water for three days, yet when they arrive to the waters of Marah, the Hebrew people are mumbling and grumbling because they are thirsty, probably hungry, and the water of Marah is bitter.  How God intentionally leads us through deserts to test us, are we willing to be faithful, trusting in God and obedient to him???  Sometimes it is God taking us away from all the distractions of this world and life to be with God, in his presence, to hear his voice.  When I grumble and mumble not only do I have a physical need of quenching my thirst and hunger but also a spiritual need to quench my thirst and hunger for God's Word and being in His presence.  Moses cried out to God for help and God answered by showing Moses a piece of wood to throw into the water.  The wood turned the bitter water sweet.  When we taste of only the world it tastes bitter or leaves a bitter taste in our mouths.  But when we taste the Lord, He is good.  He is sweet.  Since we have tasted of the Lord and know that He is good are we craving Him - pure spiritual milk (2 Peter 2:1-3)?  If you have ever craved from something and when you ate it.  Did it bring you pleasure, joy?  Or unfulfillment and dissatisfaction?  At the end of the Exodus passage, Moses leads the Hebrew people to Elim, and oasis with 12 springs of water and seven palm trees.  A place of beauty, refreshment, and blessing.

God wants us to taste Him and know that He is good (Ps. 34:8).  God wants us to crave pure spiritual milk (2 Pet. 2:1-3).  What desert is God leading you into in order to test you?  Are you grumbling and mumbling and complaining?  Or are you being refreshed and restored?

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