Run For The Border!

To My Richest Pieces of Chocolate, When I was a kid Taco Bell had come out with a fantastic taco called the Taco Lite. Now what you all need to know is that there was nothing “lite” about this taco. It was especially great because the taco shell was deep fried. Mmm, I love deep fried. Anyway, one day when I was in the 5th grade, my mom picked me up from school and took me as a special treat to Taco Bell. She said that I could have anything that I wanted. Wow! Anything? She said “just this once”. I stepped up to that counter like a millionaire and proudly ordered 5 taco lite Supremes! And you know what? I polished ‘em all off…every last crumb. Unfortunately about an hour later I had to make an embarrassing stop at a gas station bathroom…if you catch my drift. Taco Bell’s taco lites grew as an emergent explosion with only one way out! Running to that bathroom with a old rusted key attached to a hubcap I realized that I was “running for the border”. Maybe that’s how Taco Bell got their catch phrase. In my own faith journey I’ve been learning about borders. I’ve been learning that there are God approved borders that we should all have in our lives. For instance, remaining faithful to your husband is a God approved border. Likewise, loving your neighbor as yourself is also a God approved border. Let’s dig even deeper. What if loving yourself in a healthy, Biblically based way meant that you had to draw a line in the sand with loved ones on the other side? What if it meant that for a time, you would have to endure such pains and deep heart injuries that only God could heal? First of all don’t despair, our God is the Great Physician and has the power to heal every wound of every person regardless of who they have been or even what they have done. His healing is for all. Now let’s go to Exodus 11:4-7. Allow me to set the stage. Moses was in Egypt continually confronting the Pharaoh let his people go. Attempt after attempt the pharaoh’s heart continued to refuse the instruction of the Lord to let His people go and as a result, the pharaoh’s people suffered greatly. See, Pharaoh allowed his own personal border of clinging to his own need for power so much that his arrogance and pride hurt his own people to the core. “This is what the Lord says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die. Then a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again. The Pharaoh drew the wrong line in the sand and the Bible says in Exodus 12:30 that “Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.”. Can you imagine the consequence of having a wrong border in place? However, let's see what happens when a Godly border is put in place. Here‘s what happened...after being instructed to sacrifice a lamb or young goat for each family and paint the door frame with the animals blood, the Israelites were told to “not allow anyone out through the door until morning. For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when He sees the blood on the top and sides of the door frame, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.” The Bible also says that “among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark”. Are you in a situation today that needs peace and protection? Allow the Lord to do what He does best…intervene. If having a Godly border in place assures me that I will have His peace and protection then I will gladly run to His border and into His arms. God Bless each of you, Love, Dede