You Lead. I'll Follow.

On Sunday, I met up with my son, his wife and five children in Houston to catch a flight together for a Spring break week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Right from the get-go, my son Ryan, became the Pied Piper, so to speak, as he gathered the eight of us to all get on the plane with him because of his "priority" status. He travels so much that his perks benefitted all of us. When our flight arrived in Cabo, once again, Ryan led and we followed as we made it through the maze of hundreds of people getting through customs. He was a Papa Rooster gathering all his chickens together and it benefitted us all because he made it through the fastest customs line. Then, we followed him as he led us to the large van that awaited us and all of our luggage. We made it to the resort and home where we'd be staying the next several days, followed by him being in his tour guide mode as he pointed out this and that which, he insisted, would bring us so much enjoyment. Perks, benefits, and blessings.

Yesterday, my Bryson (the youngest of the crew) insisted he wanted me to follow him to the beach and the gorgeous rock formations, and see the surf billowing in with spectacular force and beauty. Bryson had been here before and he knew the spots to see and places to go. He was so attentive to making sure I could maneuver through the high tide areas and to be sure I didn't fall on some of the rough terrains. As long as I stayed close to him and walked in his tracks, I made it through just fine. He led. I followed.

These two paragraphs were from my journal yesterday. I knew a blog was underway -- being led and following that resulted in some outstanding perks, benefits, and blessings. God beckons us to follow Him so He can shower His blessings upon us. Just as following my son and grandson had perks, benefits, and blessings, I need to think again about the extraordinary, countless benefits of following Jesus as His fully devoted follower.

~ There is such comfort in knowing that He forgives the many mistakes we've made as soon as we ask Him and He calls us sons and daughters. We get the royal first-class treatment as heirs to all his promises.
~ We have the assurance that He is with us and we have instant access to His presence in our lives. We know we are not alone, and will never again be alone.
~ The closer we get to Him as we follow Him, He helps us get closer to those we love and we start to want others to follow Him, too.

My grandchildren have to do very little to please their dad, but when they obey, respect, please and honor him, he can't help himself, he showers on the blessings even more. Even more so with our Heavenly Father!

I love Jamie Grace's song, "You Lead. I'll follow." Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

You lead, I'll follow, Your hands hold my tomorrow,
Your grip, Your grace, You know the way,
You guide me tenderly, yeah,
When you lead, I'll follow,
Just light the way and I'll go,
'Cause I know what you got for me is more then I can see,
So lead me on, on, on and on,
Just lead me on, on, on and on,

I don't know about you, but I want to hang as close as I can to my Heavenly Father because when I do, He steers me clear of the pitfalls and he pours the blessings on me. He just can't help himself. He loves me so much and He loves you, too! Let Him lead as you follow Him tightly, too!

Please Let Me Introduce You to Rimon!

If you follow my daily FB posts or my blog, you’ll remember my Holy Lands' daily log of awe-inspiring, faith-filled experiences that I and my fellow travelers savored from the moment we landed at the Israel Ben Gurion Airport. The reason, was in large part because of our tour guide, Rimon. If you were planning this trip of a lifetime that would ensure you of a greater depth of love for Jesus Christ and one that would take your Bible readings to a whole new level of appreciation, I would have urged you to choose Rimon as your Tour Guide.

Rimon was Jerusalem-born-and-raised and seemed to speak a dozen languages because no matter who we encountered along the way, he'd speak fluently with them. Rimon opened our eyes and hearts to the places where Jesus lived, healed, forgave, transformed, raised the dead, set captives free, suffered, died, was buried and rose to heaven. Rimon knew and loved his land AND the Bible. He quoted so many scriptures and let the Bible unfold as we saw places we had only read and heard about. Rimon really was a "living stone" among the ancient stones of the land, as an ambassador of the land, its people, culture, religious traditions, their history, and their suffering and hopes. Born on the Mt of Olives, he lived in Jerusalem all his life. His father is buried on Mt Zion. His grandfather’s tomb is in the Garden of Gethsemane. As a child, Rimon was fascinated by tour guides. He'd follow tourists inside the church and offered to guide them. So, in the holiest place of Christianity, his "ministry" as a Christian tour guide took off.

How can you spend only a few days of your life with someone and be impacted in such a way that your life would be forever changed? Rimon shined so brightly as a reflection of our Lord’s light and that light penetrated into our souls and we knew that those few days together were but a foretaste of the joys that await us when we gather together in heaven.

I'm sure many would like to have Rimon's info so you can find out about his next tour. You will have to wait in line with patience as a loving, joyful, fully devoted follower of Christ, because the line you’ll be waiting in is the one in which you'll get the ultimate “Grand Tour” of heaven. I, and my fellow travelers and thousands of others, were shocked when we received word on Monday that Rimon had a fatal heart attack on Monday. No doubt he received a “Fast Pass” to heaven. I could hardly believe that this beautiful servant of Christ could have left us so soon. In June, when a group of Texans, a few Arkansans and Oklahomans traveled to Jerusalem, it was Rimon that met us. From the moment we met him, we knew he wasn’t a typical tour guide, simply doing his “tour guide” job. It really was his ministry to represent Christ’s homeland on this earth, and, what an extraordinary representative he was.

The question is “What will we be remembered for? What will we leave our heirs and those who know us? Lately, there have been many well-known celebrities who passed away and great accolades were given for their talents and success stories I can't imagine that any of those people could top beautiful people like Rimon whose lives and stories of great faith, character and service impacted us for eternity. More than the tangible inheritances, our good character is creating a legacy that will continue to speak long after our life on this earth has ended. "Unquestionable character" is one of the greatest gifts we can leave for others....and that comes as we embrace the character of our Father God.

Charles Spurgeon said, “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts – not on marble.” Rimon carved his name on our hearts – he will be remembered as one who loved the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind – and we’ll never be the same because we took a little "heavenly" journey with him on this earth. We'll see you later, Rimon! RIP!