Sixyears ago, Bob and I were locked in disagreement about moving away from GrassValley. He wanted to move and I didn’t. I was positive he was wrong and I had a lock on God’s will for our family.Certainly God had led us there and we should stay. In my arrogance, I evenrequested that my friends at church pray for him.

Filledwith self-righteous fervor, I asked them, “What do you do when your husbandwants to do something you know is wrong? Not illegal or immoral, just the wrongchoice for the two of you.” On his side of the fence, Bob was just as sure ofhis position.

Overthe following months, I spent a great deal of time pleading with God to changeBob’s heart. Instead of changing Bob’s heart, however, God began to inform mineconcerning His established order for marriage. Christian marriage is meant tomirror Jesus’ relationship to His beloved bride, The Church. That means my roleas wife involves submission, even when I think Bob is wrong. Although Iunderstood God’s message, I still had a grumbling heart when I agreed to putthe house up for sale.

Nearthe road to our house were two ponds. Deer Creek fed the larger one and watertrickled into the smaller one through a culvert underneath a large mound thatseparated the two. A family of turtles lived in the smaller pond. Over theyears that we lived there, as we came and went along the road, Bob and I alwaysstopped to watch the turtles swim or sun on the rocks. We had observed the familygrow from year to year, producing several baby turtles.  We thought of them as our neighbors andfriends. That year, summer was unusually hot. The pond the turtle familyoccupied dried up and remained dry until winter rains filled it again. The waterin the larger pond receded, but it never went completely dry because it wasdeeper and fed by the stream. When the smaller pond appeared full again, westopped one day to look for the turtles. But they weren’t there.

Igot frantic. “Where did they go?”

“Therewas no water for a long time. Maybe they died in the heat,” Bob said.

Ididn’t want to hear that. “There’s another pond not fifty yards away. Whydidn’t they just walk over there?”

Alwaysready to solve my problems, Bob replied, “Maybe they couldn’t see the otherpond.”

Asif a lightning bolt struck my head, I suddenly understood. “Of course, not.They look at the world from a turtle’s perspective. And I’ve been a turtle,too.”

Bobdidn’t get it right away.

“Don’tyou see?” I pointed to the big pond. “There’s another pond—a beautiful deeppond, just over there. But I dug into the dried mud with both feet, grumblingabout having to leave my pond, even if staying meant I had to die here. I neveronce considered there might be another pond. Maybe even a better one.”

LikeJesus and His disciples in Jeff’s sermon yesterday, when we stand in front ofthe Gates of Hades, we have a choice to make, just like the turtles. Do we stepout in faith when the Holy Spirit urges us to move, one foot in front of the other,plodding along without being able to see where we’re going? Or do we refuse tobudge because we don’t know what’ s on the other side of the mound—because wedon’t know all the answers?

Speakingof Moses poised at the edge of the Red Sea, Jeff said, “God is not revealingany more information until you put your foot in the water by faith.” God wouldnot reveal His plan for Bob and me until we stepped out of our familiar pondand walked over the mound to the unknown. Facing the Gates of Hell, Jesus wantsus to display the fruits of the Spirit without knowing the answers—with nothingbut faith in the living God and His Son Jesus, the Christ. God is able. He asksus to step out in faith that the Word of God will provide all the light we needto take the next step, and then the next, and then the next. He neverilluminates the entire road at once or shows us the bigger pond until we getthere. But He gives us the Spirit of Jesus living within us and that’s enough.By our obedience in times of turmoil, the Spirit produces supernatural fruit sothat the World may see Jesus in our reactions to life’s challenges—love, peace,joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Whereare you and I being turtles today? Where are we refusing to move? Dug inbecause we don’t know the answers? In what impossible situation?  Health, relationships, financial? Willwe step out of our dry ponds and head up the mound in faith? Let God prove onceagain that He is fully able.

Whois Jesus to us today?