What a busy holiday weekend this has been. Lauren arrived home safely from Swaziland, and will relay some of her experiences this week. God certainly blessed their trip!

Spending part of the weekend in Dallas (actually Rockwall) with Whitney was a great deal of fun. Meeting those she is working with, and renewing some old acquaintences rounded out our time.

Deanna and Lauren arrive this coming Saturday, and I cannot wait!

Too often I find myself looking for a new comfort zone. There is nothing inherently wrong with having one, except that I tend to dwell there for too long. When things get hectic, I like the ease of knowing what is going to happen in certain areas of my life. That has been absent for some time.

That is part of this growth process which is okay. I just find I am longing to linger in familiar places, yet there is little that is familiar.

My friend Lou told me a story yesterday that I find I can identify with far too closely. When she was little, she wanted a pony. She wanted one badly, but because her family could not afford it, she had to settle for occassional rides on a neighbors Shetland.

She relayed stories of riding this horse, who had an ill tempered colt. The colt would jump up while she rode the mother, and kick or try to bite her. As annoying as that would be, that was not what I identified with.

The mama Shetland had been one of those live carousel horses. Tethered to a line, walking in circles for hours while city-bound children got a taste of the country, by riding aloft this tiny steed.

Lou rode her when she no longer had to fulfill this work function. However, this pony had worked this way for most of her life. She had grown up being groomed for this function. She did it very well... perhaps too well.

When Lou rode her, they had the entire field to negotiate, yet the pony would do what she had always done. She walked in a circle. That is a sad pathetic picture in my mind. This horse had been released from her previous bondage, no longer forced into servitude, free to run wherever she wanted, yet so clinging to what she knew, that if a rider was aboard she traversed a circle. She could not do otherwise, as she had become a slave to her own thought processes, a slave to habit.

I am way too much like that! I was set free by the King of kings, yet so powerful is my desire to embrace what is familiar, that I miss out on some of the best things the Lord may have in store. I must learn to break free of what I know, and ascend the heights of His grace, plumb the depths of his mercy, and gain wisdom from the mind of Christ!

There is danger in walking the paths familiar. Danger of never letting go of what I used to be, never discovering what He has for me. His way is best, and I am striving to release my grip on what I used to know. If I am to be like my Savior desires, I will have to learn to walk new, unexplored paths, and find His comfort and freedom there!

dad