Abraham wanted a wife for his son Isaac, so he sent his servant back to his home country to find this wife. The servant promised that he would do that but was a bit worried that he wouldn't be able to find a woman willing to drop everything and go to another land with people she did not know. So the servant prayed for God's guidance.
You can read the details in Genesis 24, but the bottom line is that Rebekah showed up at the well and did exactly what the servant prayed that the right woman would do. At this point he KNEW that Rebekah was the one. So he went back and told the whole story of this miraculous selection to Rebekah's family.
The family was surprised and reluctant, but willing to let her go if there was time to say goodbye. They asked for ten days but the servant begged them not to make him or Abraham wait that long. So they decided to ask the girl. I'm sure they assumed she would be too afraid and would want to stay as long as possible. Instead she simply said, "I will go."
And then she did. I don't know what Rebekah was thinking, but it's my guess that she had faith in God and that she believed the servant's story. She recognized that for some reason she had been chosen by God specifically to do something significant. She was to marry someone that eventually would become the Isaac in the phrase, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
I don't know what God is asking you to do today. At this point maybe you don't either. But the true life of adventure begins with the decision to say nothing more than "I will go" wherever that takes you.
Allow me a few minutes to reminisce about the times I have said that phrase. I knew for a long time as a teenager that God wanted me to go to Bartlesville Wesleyan College. That resulted in eight wonderful years, four as a student, and four as an employee, surrounded by some of the best people you will ever meet who are still my friends today.
After a huge disappointment in not receiving a job I applied for at Houghton College, I said "I will go" and headed to South Dakota, a place where I learned for the first time, having grown up in sunny Colorado where snow actually melts, that you can see October's snow in April... because it's the very bottom layer. However, in Brookings again I had relationships and grew and learned so much. Those were three of the most formative years of my life and I never wondered why God wanted me there.
After finishing my years as Dean of Students in Bartlesville, I heard God clearly say "I want you in Mexico." That was one of the most clear messages I've received in my life. The two years I was there changed my world view, connected me with incredible people, and helped me to redefine myself.
Then it was off to Minnesota to hang out with a guy who said, "I could always use another friend in Minnesota" when I believed God was telling me he was the one I should marry. It took him a while, but he came around and nearly 22 years ago I signed up to be a clergy spouse in an itinerant appointment system. That means that I signed up for a lifetime of "I will go" moments that took us to four different churches/cities in Minnesota. I have never regretted that decision.
And then there was the out nowhere question two years ago that turned our lives upside down: "Will you go to Virginia?" And here we are.
However, in between all of those moments there were times when I wanted to go and God said no. Starting when I was 15 and happening periodically over the years there were "awesome opportunities" that I wanted to pursue. But I knew I didn't want to go without God's blessing. He closed doors and shook sense into me in multiple ways to protect me from what was obviously not the best He had for me.
I don't know what the rest of my life holds, and neither do you. But it is my conviction that if we live our lives simply saying, "I will go where You lead me" that life is an amazing adventure.
Will you go?
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