Packing for two years is messy business. Socks. Sandals. Sheets. Shampoo. Sweatshirts. Shorts. Tossing clothing from the drawers into the middle of the room, and then into the already-overflowing duffel bags is stressing me out. Then, when I finally have an item checked off of the list, I realize that I need to wear those shoes for the next two weeks.
Its nothing unusual for my room to be messy, but right now, the mess is stressing me out. In 18 days, the mess needs to be gone, packed into bags, and en route to Tanzania. Between now and then, I need to decide what I need and don’t need, what to take and what to leave, and what needs to wait until the last minute to get shoved into a bag.
This morning, I’m taking a break. I’m writing a blog post. A post about as messy as my room. I’m compiling video footage from the whitewater rafting trip last weekend. I’m browsing Facebook because I don’t want to face the mess. Amidst my purposeful distraction, I read the following post on A Holy Experience:
… He said that you can think goodness and mercy just follow you, but the Hebrew word for ‘follow’ is ‘radaph’ and it means to “to pursue, to run after, to chase” or, quite literally, “to hunt you down”. The word radaph, that one that goodness and mercy is doing in Ps. 23:6, it is first found in Genesis 14, when Abram discovers that his nephew Lot has been kidnapped and Abram gathers an army of 318 men and “pursued them unto Dan” (Genesis 14:14). The word ‘pursued’ there? It’s is ‘radaph’…
And I can feel it, how when a new week starts to run after me, the goodness and mercy of God isn’t just following after me placidly. The goodness and mercy of God pursues after me passionately. It’s what I keep thinking, picking up lost legos, errant books — like how my mama used to dash off the front porch and run down the lane after me, waving about whatever book I forgot for school — and who else is behind a forgetful, rat-race world but the chasing God?
God is so bent on blessing, He chases.
God’s not out to get you — He’s out to give to you.
And God’s blessings don’t pursue temporarily — but relentlessly. It’s right there in His Word: His goodness and mercy pursue me not just some days — but all the days of my life. When I’m in a wilderness, His mercy and goodness run after me. When I’m hurting, His grace hunts for me. When I’m plagued by problems, His goodness pursues me… Read the rest.
So if you ask me how I’m doing these next few weeks, I hope I will be able to say to you that, despite the overwhelmedness, despite the stress, despite the unknowns, I am being chased and pursued by the goodness of a good God. Because He is good.
Ride Fierce Racing 