"God is on my side" I heard someone say the other day as they shared about a dispute they were having with someone else. As I sat there listening to this person give me all the details about why they thought God was on their side and not on the other party's side I began to wonder. So many of us are so quick to say that God must be on our side because of what we have read and others have told us. Clearly when it comes to the way he feels towards us as our father this is indisputable – He always has and always will be on our side. However, can this be also said when we fight and argue with each other about what after all often only amounts to egotistical pettiness?
I have driven on many third world countries in my time. South Africa is one of these which I happen to often visit. Without fault every time I have been in a car at some stage of my visit, I have had to experience the impact that the regular power cuts have on the traffic signals in this nation. I remember last time I was there when once again while having to endure along with everyone else another blackout, I noticed something that I had never seen before when I came to a non-working traffic light. There is never an accident when the lights are not working whereas when they are working correctly there are plenty. How can this be? Well here is what my heart showed me.
When we choose to live a life where controlling and watching everything we say and do is king, the impact of our involvement is automatically limited as our heart and mind begin to fight between them for the supremacy of our beings. Consider an archer. If he is free to shoot his arrows anywhere he wants he will have the whole of his talent (heart) available to him. He will have no future results in his mind and will therefore almost always hit whatever he desires. Now take the same archer and ask him to hit the apple above your head and you immediately put him in a space where the potential of being divided is available to him.
In the world we live in today where so many of us are constantly goal setting, have you ever taken the time to wonder what kind of goals guys like Moses, David, and Joseph set? You hear it all over the place. I certainly did when I worked at the high end of professional sports. "You have to set your goals and go out there and make things happen for yourself," they said. "Those who wait never get anywhere. You can't stand still unless you want to become another statistic," they added. While I see what many are trying to communicate through the above statements I also realize today how limiting they can be to our lives. You see all of these sayings begin with us and very much depend on what we are able to muster up and accomplish.
A few years ago on my way to South Africa, I read in a magazine on the plane about whales. The article was a very long one so I gathered much knowledge about them. Next to me was a man that had visited and interacted with whales on more than one occasion. He didn't seem to know as much as the magazine yet there was a wonder in his eyes and an expression on his face as he told me about them, that captured me in a way that the magazine with all its knowledge and information never did. Once I arrived in South Africa I naturally went to the same place he spoke about where the whales come to mate and often come very close to the shore. I will never forget the first time I saw one of the huge sperm whales playing, jumping, splashing, and caring for its young.
About 3 months or so ago I downloaded a training application on my iPhone. My desire was to shed some unnecessary pounds and hopefully get fitter than I was at the time. I still remember the first morning I woke up ready to start using my new cyber training partner. I knew only too well how difficult it can be at times to train all on your own and the difference another voice encouraging you, even if it's an electric one, can make. My information had been uploaded and the program had been set. Three plus months down the road and I am very happy to tell you that I have shed around 18 pounds between exercising and changing my eating habits. I feel better than I have in a long time and among the many things that have been impacted by this change, one of the best ones is how easy it has become to get out of bed in the morning.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is found in Psalm 23. Only last week I took some time to read it again yet this time unlike other times I noticed something completely different. Before I go into this new revelation, a bit of background for you so you can understand why I noticed. In the last 6 months, I began to become aware of how every time Yeshua met someone he never asked them what they needed. Instead, he asked them what did they want. I realized that I had stumbled into a nugget of wisdom and insight when I came across the word want once again within Psalm 23 where it says that because God is the Shepherd David does not want.
During one of the most traumatic and unexpected times of my life, God spoke only a few words into my heart. These words have lived with me ever since and they have often been what I have focused on when the boat has been rocked by the many storms I have faced thus far. Over the years I have had the opportunity to look deeper and discover what these words really meant when they were first uttered to a young shepherd boy that had gone on to become a King. At the time he was facing an uncertain world around him. By nature, he was a warrior often used to "handling the situation." 
Over the years I have had the chance to share many bottles of wine with friends and loved ones. Many have been the moments that have been used as an excuse to enjoy some of the finest offerings from the world's vineyards. Yet out of all of these occasions, there is one bottle of wine in particular that I will never forget. It wasn't so much the events that prevent me from forgetting it as those times have their own reasons why I remember them in spite of the wine. The unshakable memory of why this wine sticks out is because its taste impacted me in such a way that it quite literally changed the way I see and understand wine today.
For years I heard that God was primarily interested in my character. In fact, I was told that this was really what he cared the most about in my life and everything he did, including hurting me, was all so that he could develop it. I heard this over and over yet I was never told why God was somehow so obsessed with me getting this part of my life right. Recently I have begun to understand that when we finally begin to discover that we are loved regardless of what we do or don't do, we enter into what is probably the most vulnerable space we can walk through. This truth can be handled and received in one of two ways.