By Eric Abney
I can remember growing up and getting a lego set for Christmas or my birthday. I was never really big on reading the instructions I would just build stuff. I thought that I could come up with some pretty cool things but if I’m honest, nothing I made ever looked as cool as what was on the instructions.
Well wouldn’t you know that as I grew up and became a man I never really read instructions. . . for anything. Once my Dad was helping me wire up something in my car and in doing so we had to disconnect the battery. After we were done we reconnected the battery and I began to check everything to be sure that it worked. I found that my electric window on the driver’s side was not working properly. I was distraught. I began to check fuses and think we might have cut one of the wires in our wiring process. I was at my wits end and I thought I was going to have to take the car into the shop. But before I did that I thought, “I had better pull out the instruction manual.” I did, and in reading the instructions I found that when we disconnected the battery the driver’s side switch reset and all I had to do was hold it down for a few seconds and “shazam!!!” it was working like new. In our lives often times I feel as though we just build things much like I did with legos. We “build” our homes, families, businesses, and dreams and at the end of the day I wonder if we just end up building “stuff”.
God said this in the book of Psalms 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” He instructs us. Often times we seek the instruction only when something we don’t want to happen happens, much like when my window was broken. What would happen if we right now heeded whatever instruction God was giving us? What would our lives look like? Can you see your life becoming the picture God has painted for you? Just as with my lego building collection there was a picture of what was to be built. I believe God himself has a picture of what is to be built in our own lives. If we try to build something on our own it never looks as good as when we read the instructions and follow the way that is laid out for us. What are the instructions God is giving to you? His instruction may lead to you greater peace than you have ever imagined.
Be Encouraged and Live Adventurously,
-Eric










Another year has come and gone. And like all the years before, this one seemed to fly by way too fast. 2009 was a great year for me and my family. But more specifically, this Christmas has been an amazing one. I am excited to approach a brand new year, but I hate to see this Holiday Season come to an end. Christmas is the season of giving, and this year, that seemed more prevalent than ever.



