One of the discussion questions in our Wild Goose Chase this past Sunday was, “Have you been stuck in a rut lately?” Later in the day while perusing through a book entitled, “Cat and Dog Theology,” I read with great interest how the distance between the rails of all railroads in the US came to be four feet, eight and a half inches.

It seems that English engineers helped to build US railroads according to the pattern used in England. So, how did they know to do this? Because the engineers who built the first railways in England had built the rails for the tramways that preceded the railroad. And the engineers who built the tramways used the distance between wagon wheels, which preceded the tramways. So why did the engineers who built the wagons use four feet, eight and a half inches for the distance between wagon wheels? Because this was the spacing between wheel ruts in the road.

The authors of the book, Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison, went on to ask, “Who put the ruts in the roads?” They discovered the roads in England had been built by the Romans, and the Romans built their roads to accommodate their war chariots. And you guessed it: the distance between the wheels of the Roman war chariots was four feet, eight and a half inches.

But why that distance? The authors continued. It seems this distance was the same distance as “the back ends of two warhorses.” And the Roman war chariots all used two war horses. There’s another pretty unique consequence to all of this. It’s almost like a Paul Harvey’s, “The rest of the story.”

On the sides of each space shuttle are two big booster rockets, full of fuel to assist in takeoff. Apparently, the engineers at the manufacturing company based in Utah wanted these solid rocket boosters to be a bit bigger but the boosters had to fit through a rail tunnel in the mountains for delivery to the launch site. The tunnel was only a bit wider than the railroad track. Remember how wide the rail track was? Four feet, eight and a half inches, or about the same as the back end of two Roman war horses.

Who would have guessed that ruts from Roman war chariots in ancient England would have had such a great affect on space travel?

Perhaps the moral of the story ought to be, “Beware of ruts, you may be following the back end of a couple of horses.”

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

As I was teaching from Galatians 2 and got to the part where Paul pointed out Peter’s “hypocrisy” in no longer eating with Gentiles once other Jews arrived from Jerusalem, I started wondering what must have gone through Peter’s mind as Paul was addressing him and the others who had been swayed by peer pressure to revert to their old ways.

Fifteen or sixteen years later, after graciously being restored by Christ, after his triple denial of Christ, Paul was pointing out yet another act of hypocrisy. Did Peter want to run and hide? Probably. Did he want to go back to fishing? Probably. Did he want to lash out at Paul as he did to Malchus? Perhaps. But he didn’t. Once again, he picked himself up and allowed the Holy Spirit to restore him and use him. Evidence shows us that Peter didn’t let this failure stop him, just like he didn’t let the previously.

I don’t believe Scripture details Peter’s reaction to Paul, but I wonder if he heard a rooster crow. I wonder if he thought, “Drat, (don’t know what this would be in the Greek) I did it again.”

In chapter 5 of “Wild Goose Chase,” Mark Batterson considers what might have gone through Peter’s mind when he heard a rooster crow. Crowing roosters would have been fairly common in Peter’s time and could have been a pretty consistent reminder of his failure to follow after Christ.

I wonder how many failures there were. Probably more than what is recorded for us in Scripture. Yet God used Peter, a man of many faults, to help lead the early church, to write two major letters to the church (perhaps 10-15 years after this event) and to help mentor young John Mark, who also was familiar with failure. (John Mark went on to write the Gospel of Mark.) Perhaps God used Peter’s familiarity with failure to help a young man who also had failed.

Rick Warren made a great statement during his teaching of the Purpose Driven Small Group studies. He simply said, “God will not waste anything that has happened to you.” I love that!

For Peter and John Mark, it would have been easy to give up and simply believe they would fail once again. (Perhaps we are also tempted to entertain those same thoughts about ourselves.) But God doesn’t see us as failures. That’s why we still have dreams and things that happen to others still make us cry and pound the table wanting to do something that bring about a change.

Perhaps the crowing rooster is not the end of the race. Perhaps the rooster crowing is really the start of another adventure that God wants to take us on.

As I was leading the Bible study from Galatians 1 this past Wednesday night, I was really challenged by Paul’s words in verses 15 & 16. Paul confessed that he knew he had been “chosen from birth,” “called by God’s grace,” but he also knew it was not about him, it was about Christ being revealed to him and through him.

What a great message! What a great challenge to allow Christ to be seen in everything we do and heard in everything we say.

How humbling it is to know that God chose me, and you, to do works that have been prepared for us before the creation of the world.

And then to know that it’s not through my great ability (whew!) and it’s not through my great intellect (double whew!) that those works will be accomplished, but through His grace and through His Spirit.

He chose us to do these things. That’s already determined. He has also determined that we can do these things, and He has determined to work through us. The only question not determined is whether or not I will step up and do what He has ask me to do.

As I was waking up this morning, I wondered what kind of adventure God had in store for me today. I wondered if it might be a giant that stands in my path or if it might be a trip down the road to Gaza where I would encounter someone else traveling along or if I might happen upon a pit that had a lion in it. (I noted it was supposed to snow today, so I’m kind of looking out for a pit!)

As I reviewed the six cages that Mark Batterson wrote about in his book, “Wild Goose Chase” I found that there’s a little bit of me in every one of those cages. It’s never just one that holds me back from the adventure.

(For those who haven’t read the book or weren't in class Sunday morning, the six cages are: Responsibility, Routine, Assumptions, Guilt, Failure, and Fear.)

Had God told me, as he did Phillip in Acts 8, to go down the road toward Gaza, I might have been so consumed with completing the task that I would assume he meant go “to” Gaza. In all probability I would have viewed other travelers on this road as obstacles and would certainly have been fearful, or suspicious in the least, of someone pulled over to the side of the road appearing to need help. After all, I would have the responsibility of getting to Gaza and if they robbed me or harmed me in some way, I would have been late or not gotten there at all.

But the adventure might be neither giant nor a trip down Gaza road. It might be a kind word to the clerk in the coffee shop; it might be a moment or two spent helping someone with the door or with a package; it might be showing patience with the IT guy when he is working on my malfunctioning computer; or it might be showing mercy to someone who doesn’t deserve it. These are all adventures that God just might have for me today.

And I’m wondering what kind of adventure God might have for you as well. Hit the comment button below and let me know what He has you doing today!

I’m praying that I don’t miss the adventure, and I’m also praying that I don’t run into a lion in a pit while it is snowing. I don’t like snow!

In Pursuit

I begin two new studies this week: one is based on the New Testament letter from Paul to the Galatians, and the second one is based on a recent book by Mark Batterson, “Wild Goose Chase.” I’m excited about each of these studies because both are already speaking to me and I believe both will speak to others as well.

The letter to the Galatians was written to a group of believers to encourage them to move forward in the things of God, and to live their lives free from the things that had held them back. When you get into chapter 5 of Galatians, you realize that some of the things that held these folks captive were pretty gross. But God was offering them a sweet alternative from the way things used to be and he was willing to make all things new.

Batterson’s book, “Wild Goose Chase” is based on the Celtic Christians’ name for the Holy Spirit. According to Batterson they referred to the Holy Spirit as “An Geadh-Glas” or “the Wild Goose.”

Both studies are designed to challenge us to live differently than we have in the past. It could be something that was gross, such as the list in Galatians 5, that was holding us back, or it simply could be that God is prodding us to change, even our righteous deeds.

Recently, I completed a study on the book of Hebrews with a group of folks. Once again I was so challenged by what I learned. Whoever wrote the letter (I’m voting for Paul) was challenging a group of very devout Jews to continue their transition from Judaism to Christianity. Some were having a problem leaving the old behind and grabbing the new.

The writer of Hebrews uses a phrase that has stuck with me for several weeks. In Hebrews 10:26 he says, “if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth……..”

For these devout Jews, “deliberately sinning” was going to back to their religious rituals, or the works of the Law. At one time these were sufficient. The Law brought them to the point of knowing they needed a Messiah. But accepting Messiah means making changes. The old ways no longer work.

Now I’m wondering as I prepare to lead the study of Galatians and “The Wild Goose Chase” just which of my old ways will no longer be sufficient. What is it that God is wanting me to do that hasn’t been a part of my regimen? And will I have problems laying down the old and picking up the new?

Pray for me and I will pray for you!