Memorial of Saints Basil and Gregory

“Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you” (1 Jn. 2:24). When the truth, who is Christ, abides in us it takes hold of us and draws us close to his heart. God is ever faithful to his word. It is we who waiver, thus the apostle’s encouragement, HANG ON WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT! And if you think you are getting close to the end of your rope, TIE A KNOT! We tend to get bored and wander off, but God isn’t going anywhere. We have his word for it. “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mat. 28:20). I’ll leave you with a few excerpts from one of my favorite stories, God’s Rag-Tag Army.

“Listen! The drum beat isn’t even regular. Everyone is out of step.  And there!  You see? God keeps stopping along the way to pick up one of his tinier soldiers who decided to wander off and play with a frog, or run in a field, or whose foot got tangled in the underbrush. 

He’ll never get anywhere that way!

And yet, the march goes on…

 Most of us are afraid and lonely and would like to hold hands or cry or run away. And we don’t know where we are going, and we can’t seem to trust God-especially when it’s dark out and we can’t see him!

 And yet, he won’t go on without us.

And that’s why it’s taking so long” (God’s Rag-Tag Army, Martin Bell).