I'm figuring on leaving Salisbury this Tuesday June 17, 2014 around 6am. Will try my best to get to Brunswick by the end of the day. Its a 21 mile walk and its going to be 90 degrees.
If I can walk on consecutive days I could possibly arrive in KC in as little as 5 days. However, it will probably be closer to 7-9 days depending on whether staying in a town longer makes sense.
Its been a pleasure staying with the Mahnkens! They have been very accommodating.
Had a great conversation with Mark yesterday after taking down their booth at the farmers mkt. It was a huge financial success for them.
Mark had been praying for a long time about changing his operation of his business. He felt his priorities had been off. He also had his ego massaged so much being at the center of his successful business that he began to think about himself too much.
However, when I came into his life a few days ago he began to get a message from my being here at this particular time in his life. He has begun to market his label "Missouri Legacy Beef" which is trademarked to other farmers/producers so he would not be required to run as many cattle as he did previously. He used to run as many as 5000 cattle. Now he has a way to work with other ranchers around the state who are operating and feeding their cattle under his label. He used to have a farm based ministry whereby troubled youth could work on his farm as opposed to serving time in jail. Mark would minister to them in that capacity.
Now he forsees a ministry geared towards ranchers who use his label.
Mark asked me yesterday what was my message for him. Although he never told me he was getting any kind of a message from me...I told him that he needs to shift around the way he is doing business so he can go back to once again ministering to people like he did before and to watch out for getting too wrapped up in his business. Bingo...that's the same message he was getting from God. My coming into his life at this particular moment in time verifies/confirms the message.
Lois Davis told me that my meeting her at this particular time in her life confirmed something she needed to do resulting from her childhood.
My act of leaving my previous life to trek across the country is meeting with a lot of interest from almost all I come in contact with. I see and feel a huge hunger out there amongst believers for radical changes in their life and lifestyle. Believers need to focus more on their individual priorities to make sure they are not living just to build an empire for themselves. Christ warned us to to avoid storing up things for ourselves and not being rich towards God. He also says life consists not in the abundance of possessions. Do we really believe that? Or do our lives reveal the opposite?
America needs a true spiritual awakening and it needs to start with us...believers...right now right where God assigned us.
The men's bible study group at the Lewistown Church of the Nazarene was studying Luke where the disciples began to follow Christ and left their previous jobs/life to follow Him when I came into Lewistown and crossed their path. They told me unequivocally that I was bringing the message to them that they needed to deny themselves, wholeheartedly pick up their cross daily and follow Him.
Yesterday, at the farmers mkt Brett Rawlings who is a youth pastor asked me my opinion of what bearing my cross daily meant to me. Told him picking up your cross means dying...just as when Christ picked up his cross he did so willingly in order to die for us. So, likewise, when I pick up my cross I willingly as a free will choice agree to go die for Him. As Paul said we need to die to our sins and identify with Christ to the point that we no longer have our own identity. Ego is crucified along with our sins.
But we have to do this daily. We have to live in the present in order to accomplish this. We have go die daily. Your cross is not just any burden you are bearing like cancer, other maladies or broken family situation, crushing financial problems and the like. Those are onerous burdens but they do not represent your cross.
Denying yourself means putting your desires and agenda away and inviting Christ to have His will and His agenda dominate your life. Christ says His food is to do the will of the Father. That's denying yourself!
Following Christ can only be done by denying ourselves and dying to ourselves by picking up our cross daily. Daily. Daily!
Having said all of that...I can assure you that all of that is impossible to do. By yourself. The Holy Spirit has to be invited by you to accomplish this. But that does not mean we just sit back and let God use his remote control on us. No, Paul said we have work out our soul's salvation. We have a role to play too!
For too long I think Americans have been too focused on financial security and not enough on biblical security. This is in a nutshell what has caused the free fall crash of America and her culture. Even the Church has become lukewarm. We are not willing to sacrifice ourselves for the Lord.
We need to do this today! Today as we walk as disciples and not just as believers.
Bruce, You have bared your soul, your cross to God and to ALL. and for that, I say, Thank You! May we All be so brave, so humbled as You have been and heed your advice! Love You!
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