Zucchini or Zechariah?

Several days ago I was awakened early in the morning, and in my minds’ eye I saw the word “Zechariah” written on a path. At first I thought the word was “Zucchini.” It was pretty early. Zucchini bread would have been yummy. A fleeting thought suggested that I sneak over to my neighbor’s house and grab a few from her amazing garden… But in an instant my mind refocused and upon closer inspection I saw that it was the word, “Zechariah.”

Being the super-spiritual person that I am, I sprang out of bed and did a 2 hour study of Zechariah at 5:00am…NoT. I actually went back to sleep and didn’t remember the whole thing until I was chauffeuring my kids around later that day. I guess you could say it appears I’ve lost a bit of the hunger. No, not hunger for zucchini bread. Hunger for the whispers and workings of the Holy Spirit. Several years ago, the hunger really would have driven me out of bed at first sign that God was speaking.

Actually, it’s not that I have the lost hunger—I have been an extreme seeker of God’s face for almost a decade now. God is my life, my breath, my (zucchini) bread, my water, my song. In fact I have even written a 500 page book about it: The Coram Deo Secret. (Seriously, it’s 500 pages. I know, scary.) But the fact still remains that right now I feel a bit jaded. Jaded sounds so harsh, doesn’t it? But over these last few years, the process of practicing true active faith in a supernatural God who abides inside of me has left me feeling a bit… jaded. I believe the main reason for this is that He is teaching me the difference between true faith and presumption. Second Corinthians 4:8-9 (MSG) says it best: “I've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but I’m not demoralized (just a bit jaded); I’m not sure what to do, but I know that God knows what to do; I’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left my side; I've been thrown down, but I haven't broken.” But that’s a story for another blog…or maybe another book…

So, as I finished running my kids’ around, I contemplated, “Lord, why was the word Zechariah written on a path?” It suddenly dawned on me that God knew I had just downloaded the free Spoken Word audio Bible app on my Iphone to use when I did my walk-jogging (wogging—just not while blogging). Yes, I absolutely believe God is into Iphone apps. Jesus is intimately by my side and interested in my interests, even as I seek to make His interests my foremost interests. Nothing is irrelevant to Him. Our love relationship is mutual, dynamic, synergistic…REAL. And He wanted me to use my new App to listen to His book of Zechariah while wogging along my path in order to glean truths that would further my journey along the path of life. I really, really like sappy endings like that, don’t you?

And that’s the problem. Nothing worth having comes all wrapped up in tidy sappy packages. As always, I began to doubt the whole thing really happened. Where there is room for faith, there is room for doubt. That’s why it’s called the fight of faith. Receiving from God—practicing true faith—is messy business. He has been increasing my capacity for messiness. Which as a mother of three boys, you’d think that would be a given. He has been weaning me from needing to have all the loose ends figured out, even if that means I presumptuously fill them in myself, before I act. And when all this begins to happen, jadedness happens.

I decided to tell my neighbor about the incident (yes the same one who almost got her zucchinis snatched—well actually she only has 5 pound cucumbers right now) and she exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! I am reading the One Year Bible and just made it to Zechariah!” I really love my neighbor. Having her ensures that I will successfully fulfill at least one commandment every day (for those of you who need help that would be “love thy neighbor”). I knew my beloved neighbor was giving me just the confirmation I needed. Indeed, that 14-chapter, second-from-the-end OT book was right where God wanted me

So I immediately donned my wogging apparel, and do you want to know something crazy? From the time I started until the time I finished my wog, I EXACTLY, I mean EXACTLY listened to the book of Zechariah. I heard the last word the very second I stepped into my yard after my run. Now that was enough to spook even me a little bit. How’d God do that? He really does know our beginning and our end! He really is our very own personal Alpha and Omega. He not only knows our entire path, He knows our every step. And when He gives us signs it’s so that we will pay careful attention. Since then, I have been logging in many sweaty miles over the book of Zechariah the past few weeks. So, if you’ll come back I will be sharing some of what I’ve learned in my next few blogs.

P.S. I really intended to be a bite-sized blogger in the midst of this twitter-infested generation, but I’ll try better next time.

P.S.S. Did I really just title my very first blog ever, Zucchini or Zechariah?