I was talking to my mom the other day, and she was so glad that the move was over. She had moved from Wisconsin after twenty-five plus years to Ohio. I called the move a trade off from a very very cold place to a very cold place. I told her that anyone who could live in Wisconsin for so long was my hero, so she gets her already hero status double marked in my book. My mom is just not my hero because she raised us, and made sure we had clothes on our back, and that we always had food to eat; but she is my hero because she made sure that all of her four kids knew Jesus. And she made sure that we each attended Sunday school, and Church EVERY Sunday until we all graduated high school, and left home for college. If there is any one who I would pick to say I have no doubt of her love of God and his son Jesus, it would be my mom. Now my mom said something to me right before her move from Wisconsin in which I had heard her say many times before, and I’ve heard others say it also of who I know love the Lord. However, this time when she said, it didn’t register or sit with me in the same way as before. Usually when she say it, or someone says it, I think of it as being spoken as more of a rhetorical type statement, where someone is not asking for an answer, or even making a statement for another to agree or not agree with, but is more affirming what they believe or know to be true.

So here is what she said, ” If God Be Willing,” I will soon be over in Ohio. And that’s when it hit me for the first time, and what hit me is that when we say “If God Be Willing,” we can actually slow down the process of what we hope to bring to pass. I don’t use that saying often, if any, but it is something to think about. I was looking at the time it took for my mom to finally get moved, and it was nearly four years from when the process started. And even after I factored in the pandemic, it was still over two years to move into a city where family is waiting on you. I know when I’m am speaking to people, I am careful of my words, and I seldom use the word “if” when I’m dealing with faith. I did some role playing with Jesus for a minute since I couldn’t find many examples from him in using the term “If He Be Willing.” I come from a sales background, and role playing is something you do more than anything when you first start into sales. So I say to Jesus, how would this had affected Mary, Martha, and the boys if you would had said to Lazarus, “Lazarus If My Father Be Willing, Come forth.” Jesus said to me that he would not have said that, and for me to read what he did say: John 11:42, “And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” So in essence the people that stand by you may not believe to the degree that they should when you use if. I know, and you know the intent of the heart, and as I said, I have no doubt of my mother’s Love for God; however, it is not the intent of my mother’s heart in which she must give an account to: Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” The account of the idle word “IF” is not at the day of the judgment seat, but this judgement is in the day that any opportunity comes along with something that can make you think “IF” at the wrong time during making a vital decision, and throw it off long enough to cause delay: and this idle word “IF” is on the scene over, and over to answer any opportunity that comes up to further delay you. Let’s keep our heart’s intent true, and not give way to any idle possibilities: “Am I Suppose To Sell All Out On An “If” He Be Willing?

So Say, I know He Be Willing, Jesus did: we move in Faith, and not in Hope.

The Father Still Loves To Do The Body Good.

Adopted son,