Aug | 08 | Despite DisappointmentsThere Are Always New Beginnings

Dream Word – CONTINUE

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. NKJV

Despite DisappointmentsThere Are Always New Beginnings

Tonight, do you go to bed confused? Tonight, are you at the end of your rope? Good! For know this: ‘All trails come to an end and all ends are really 'New Beginnings'. No, this is not some dank, motivational, little thought in the face of debilitating disappointment, that will never do, that will never edify, no that, will only get you angry! However, you must understand that the last three stations towards the end of all our present rail journeys of seeming un-achievement and failure are always, I mean always, Trepidation, Confusion and Disappointment!

Even when we think we have arrived at the end of our rope of possible fulfilment, at the end of our line of promise, we find upon reflection that we usually have either missed our connection to our goals, or simply, for some unknown reason, have arrived at a dead end, a cul-de-sac in a journey that seemed, at first, to certainly be going somewhere, yet despite the scenery outside our window so slowly passing by, our train inevitably rolled onward through those last three stops of Trepidation, Confusion and Disappointment! If you are feeling a little lost, bewildered and unsatisfied tonight, don't get too depressed, for this coming and mournful and triple grumble of mine, is simply the pressing preamble to an oncoming hunger for Satisfaction and Completion. Yes, we must succeed at something! Anything even! Yet, even when these Chinese food of the senses are sometimes consumed and digested, yes when we feel satisfied in seeming completion, they will eventually leave us hungry for them once again, and that pretty quickly as well. Listen to this poem…

Trails End 

Lost
I picked up what I thought was
Your red and golden thread
Followed it
Hand over hand
Dragging it’s
Dew dripping platts
Through my
Wet little fingers
I followed it
Hunched back and looking
Over raging rocks and
Down the slip grass hills
Through the ice cold river up to my
Shivering knees
Along the muddy path and
Through the green specked trees
I followed it Singing
I followed it
Winging
My way with
Prayers and fastings
I followed it with
Hope and with
 Belief I followed it
Happy with relief
Like four dogs
Hungry for their prey
Straining at the leash
Yet when my face hit the mountain
No rock opened wide in its side, but
There on the floor
Like a dead maggot
Unwriggling
Lay its yellow and tattered little
End
 Now, having travelled
The length of the thread I find
At both ends
There is nothing.
Nothing but
The journey and
The ever changing
Seasons of my soul

There is some truth in this poem, but only some. For friends, at all our present bewildering trail ends, even if it is at the last station of disappointment, there are always three choices left to us when we get there

 The First choice is to either go under and through the subway, or go over bridge above the tracks to the other platform and get the next train back from whence ye came. This choice of returning, of doubling back, might neither be good nor bad, might neither be right nor wrong, but it is a choice. Be sure of this though, that when you get on that train of return, although some scenery looks the same, all things have changed, and you especially so. Time and space have both moved on and you with them. Do not be deceived by seeming similarities. Things are different, things are new, even this return journey is a new journey for you.

The Second choice is to find a seat in the waiting room, plonk down your baggage, stare into your moth- filled wallet and then feeling totally spent, begin your wailing and your bemoaning. This choice might neither be good nor bad, might neither be right nor wrong, but it is a choice. Be sure though that others shall join you there. Many others still have been in this same disappointed waiting room a long, long time and in a scary sort of way, are somehow comforted by your arrival there. Misery enjoys company you see. It always has. If you have gone into this waiting room, do be careful not to turn it into a funeral parlour. You are not dead yet! Bite yourself, real hard! Did it hurt? Did it make you smart? There I told you. You are not dead yet! You still have a lot of living to do! So, put your emptiness away, get in contact with your Dad and see what He can do. That’s the best way to wait.

The Third choice, which though it might not either be good or bad, though it might not either be right or wrong, is I think never the less, the best of choices, and it is to go and find the Station Master. This is the end of this trail, no doubt about it, but with His help, with His provision, with His instruction and direction, it will assuredly be the beginning of another portion of your short journey home. Go find the Station Master.

Today, you arrived at a destination. If it is the station of joy and satisfaction then eat it and bathe in it, knowing that its taste will soon either dull, or sour and you will soon be hungry again, yes, even the present warm waters of your satisfaction, will soon grow cold. All achievements this side of heaven, still slowly roll on to disappointment. Go seek the Station Master
Today, you arrived at a destination. It may be the last station of Disappointment on this leg of the journey. Go seek the Station Master, He will undoubtedly send you to the trail head station of hope, in the vale of fresh vision, where new vistas and exciting adventures and discoveries await the travelling man!

In all your journeying dear friends, remember this, that despite the fact that you never purchased a ticket to disappointment, you shall be here again. Don’t you see it yet? Almost ALL the legs of all our journeys lead here to this station of Disappointment! Just about, every single one of them! That is until your final day when, instead of coming to a steaming halt, your train shall pick up steam and scream through this last stop of disappointment, its whistles blaring in speeding thunder, until it finds itself coming to rest most happily in Jesus, where, in the land of the God of all comfort and fulfilment, your face will be filled with ever-smiling peace, for only in His land of heaven, shall He lay His treasures and wonders of completion and utter satisfaction before your travelling feet.
Today however, you arrived at an earthly destination. What will you do tomorrow?

Listen:- These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:13-16 NKJV 

Pray:- Master tomorrow, travel close by me and help me to enjoy each moment of my present journey with You, for surely You and this short and ever changing, almost always disappointing ride, are the only constants in my life. Master, this night I choose life and this night I choose new beginnings. Tonight, my station Master, in faith, I lay my head in the lap of Your goodness and on the soft pillows of Your hope. Please prepare me with strength for the coming day, by granting me fresh dreams of hope and vast visions of fruitfulness. Amen.