{"id":4216,"date":"2024-11-25T06:58:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T11:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4216"},"modified":"2024-11-25T06:59:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T11:59:08","slug":"prints-in-the-sand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/25\/prints-in-the-sand\/","title":{"rendered":"Prints in the Sand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

Most people have encountered, at one time or another, an inspirational piece called Footprints in the Sand<\/em>. 

It describes a man who dreams that he is confronting God because he sees two sets of footprints when he looks back over his life \u2013 his prints and God\u2019s prints \u2013 and is alarmed to discover that there is only one set of prints during the darkest chapters of his life. 

\u201cThat\u2019s when I carried you,\u201d God assures him. It\u2019s an encouraging notion.

Then there\u2019s the piece that Anita Renfroe rolled out a couple of years ago in her satirical book The Purse-Driven Life<\/em>:

One night I had a wondrous dream, one set of footprints there was seen<\/em>
The footprints of my precious Lord, but mine were not along the shore.<\/em>

But then some stranger prints appeared, and I asked the Lord, \u201cWhat have we here?<\/em>
Those prints are large and round and neat, but Lord, they are too big for feet.\u201d<\/em>

\u201cMy child,\u201d he said in somber tones, \u201cfor miles I carried you alone.<\/em>
I challenged you to walk in faith, but you refused and made me wait.<\/em>

\u201cYou disobeyed, you would not grow, the walk of faith you would not know.<\/em>
So I got tired and got fed up, and there I dropped you on your butt.<\/em>

\u201cBecause in life there comes a time when one must fight and one must climb.<\/em>
When one must rise and take a stand, or leave their buttprints in the sand.\u201d<\/em>

Needless to say, Buttprints in the Sand <\/em>hasn\u2019t yet caught on in gift stores.

Does God really drop us, kerplunk<\/em>, when he gets tired of carrying us? 

In Genesis 6:3, God says, \u201cMy Spirit will not contend with people forever.\u201d In other words, there are limits to God\u2019s patient endurance. 

It\u2019s worth noting that one chapter later the raindrops of Noah\u2019s Flood begin to fall. In the words of the Old Testament prophets (Hosea and Jeremiah in particular), God portrays himself as a betrayed spouse who is not above screaming and throwing crockery in an exasperated rage. 

That\u2019s how frustrated God can become when his people spiritually or emotionally check out of their relationship with him.

Nevertheless, a rainbow and a promise follow the Flood. And raging spouses, miraculously, might still open their arms to welcome back their broken, faithless partners. And Jesus died saying, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they don\u2019t have a clue what they are doing.\u201d

Without doubt, God can get his back up when we refuse to go forward spiritually. 

Parents have little interest in carrying their children to school when they have strong and healthy legs that need exercise. 

But if you find yourself feeling forsaken, ingloriously sitting there in the sand, you can know that any initiative you take to re-engage God\u2019s presence in your life will be greeted with divine enthusiasm.

\u201cEven to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you\u201d (Isaiah 46:4).

When it comes to those who abandon their hearts to God, in other words, life turns out to be a beach after all.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Most people have encountered, at one time or another, an inspirational piece called Footprints in the Sand.  It describes a man who dreams that he is confronting God because he sees two sets of footprints when he looks back over his life \u2013 his prints and God\u2019s prints \u2013 and is… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[646,370],"class_list":["post-4216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-growth","tag-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4219,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions\/4219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}