My dear friend,
In my last post (titled, “Treasures New and Treasures Old”), I gave you a Bible passage from John’s 2nd epistle, written to the “elect lady.” I would imagine that you read that section of my letter and wondered in yourself, “How could God truly mean that Bible verse to be directed to me?” I can assure you that it is indeed meant for you, and you alone. You may wonder how that could be possible, right?
My blessed friend! Do you not understand that it is a promise from God?
It is God’s message to you, but He wants everyone to see what it is that He has promised. He will bring it to pass, and everyone that sees it will know that He is faithful and true, and that His love and His mercy endures forever.
“6Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. 7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. 8The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”
Psalm 138:6-8 KJV
What a great hope the words of this Psalm are. As I most certainly am in the midst of trouble, and my enemies are more numerous, subtle, and dangerous than I could have fathomed. I never knew that I had so many enemies until I began to openly confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
I rejoice that God will see me through it all and that He will perfect all that which concerns me and all that I endeavor to accomplish in this amazing journey. I am ever so thankful to God that He would honor me with this unprecedented opportunity to reveal His boundless love for you, and also to use you as an example of how eternal and infinite His love is for all of His creation. How great is His grace and mercy upon us! In order to accomplish this fantastic errand that He has given me, I am going to need all the mercy and grace that I could think to ask Him for, and plenty more.
Further still, in my last post I, also, discussed the different equipment prototypes and the effort required to produce them. I also mentioned the training exercises. The final goal of all these stages of preparation is to reach the pinnacle of fitness; to attain the optimal level of provisioning, planning, and lading of supplies, and to fashion and employ the best combination of cutting-edge technology and proven reliability required to meet the challenges ahead. The various stages of training exercises and prototype testing will help us understand how to formulate the solutions that will cause me to be ready for departure.
However, we still need to devise and produce these solutions that would establish a state of readiness. God can certainly supply plenty of help and assistance to hasten the completion of all these activities and initiatives, but ultimately it all depends on how long it takes me to accomplish those tasks that only I can do. There are many dependencies that require my direct involvement or that can only be carried out by myself. The question is, “Can I do everything that I need to do in time to make the deadline?” It does not seem possible. Yet God has given me many difficult deadlines to meet over the course of this last year, and by His grace and mercy, I have been able to meet every one of them. Amen!
It is a great comfort to know how His hand is at work in everything that I do! Especially, since there are many other great challenges to overcome.
Another huge challenge ahead of me is the physical fitness. I have not yet had the opportunity to explain the current state of my physical fitness and the associated complications with my level of fitness. I have been on an extremely strict dietary regimen and treatment plan for the last nine months (even more strict than anything I have done before). You may have noticed that in my recent portrait photo that I look rather skinny. That is because I am quite skinny. I have lost 25 pounds (11 kg) in the last year. From what God has been showing to me this last week, I believe that things will get substantially worse before they get better. By the time that I am delivered from this gastrointestinal affliction and ready to start training, I am likely to be as light as a feather.
How then? … will I be ready for the training exercises? How will I be ready for the true test of the quest itself? God only knows! It seems like it is too far of a stretch to me. I have no idea how I will be ready in time. Only by the mercy of God! It is not the first time that God has wrought such a miracle. He performed a very similar miracle in the 1936 Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini after God had delivered him from 46 days of being lost at sea and two years of brutality in a Japanese WWII POW camp. He too was light as a feather, yet he regained his Olympic form in preparation for the 1948 Olympics. Had it not been for a leg injury that he suffered in preparation for his second Olympic bid, he most likely would have competed in the 1948 Olympics. Louis Zamperini’s recovery from the POW camp back to Olympic form was nothing short of miraculous!
There is one last item of preparation that I have yet to discuss in any of my previous posts: communications. One of the most difficult challenges with this quest is the matter of communications. It is the basis of the whole endeavor, to raise the awareness of the Word of God and the love of God.
This cannot be accomplished without communicating. Therefore, I need to be able to write blog posts, record audio broadcasts, capture copious amounts of photographs, and generate videos while I am route on my journey. Moreover, I need to be able to transmit all that media back to headquarters so that it can all be edited and posted to the Internet for people to see and hear.
This is a massively difficult problem to solve. I exalt the name of Jesus for the amazing way that God has led me through the process of formulating solutions to these problems. But again! … Will I have enough time to develop, implement, and perfect these solutions? There are so many other problems to solve. How does one begin to manage them all, when any one of these problems is a mountain of its own that must be conquered? May God have mercy on us! We do ever need His great mercy!
Life is filled with far too many needs and problems that we are unable to fulfill or solve. In the very moment that we are born into this world we begin that journey through the valley of death. Eventually, our problems catch up with us and overtake us, but God has the answer for all of our problems. All we need to do is to lay our burdens on Jesus, and He will set us free. The answers to our problems is not in our toils and our cleverness. Not one of us is capable or clever enough to outsmart life. The answers to life come from God, through prayer and the knowledge of His holy Word.
This is why I earnestly and continually pray for you! … that you would come to know the Answer to life.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:4 KJV
Love Always,
Dale 😊
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