Greetings Dear Friends:
Let me begin with a brief report of last month. August 2, I flew to Chiapas with my friend, Steve Osborn. We were there a week visiting building sites for churches to build later in the year. I also spent very important time with Carlos and the medical team, making plans for future projects. I returned home on August 8. On the 16th, I drove to Northern Mexico and was there for several days. I returned home, then drove to Louisiana for ministry time. Now for the heart of this letter.
David writes in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” The word desires is plural and means that I can have more than one desire. My first and foremost desire is to please God and love the people whom He loves. My second desire is to go beyond the normal in both ministry and personal life. As you walk through the entry way to a small cabin on a small pond on our property, you will pass under a sign which reads, “Rivers I have Known”. As you leave, you will read the back side of the sign, which says, “Because I Can.” Stretching yourself to go beyond the normal. David said, “I killed both the lion and the bear and this Philistine will be as one of them. Why did he do it? “Because he could”. As Joshua was giving the inheritance that Moses had promised, Caleb said, “Give me this mountain.” A mountain inhabited by giants. Caleb would drive the giants out, possess the land, and leave it for an inheritance for his children. Why? “Because he could”. At 85 years of age, he said, “I am as strong today as the day that Moses sent me to spy out the land”, which was forty five years earlier.
My second desire was to know the rivers of the US in a small flat bottom john boat. Henry Van Dyke wrote, “For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside the animal kingdom that is comparable to the river.” At age 64, I put my boat in the Red River at Denison, Texas and took it out at the Intercostal Canal in south Louisiana. At age 65, I entered the Mississippi River, just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. I took it out in South Louisiana. At age 74, I entered the Missouri River, just south of Great Falls, Montana and crossed the states of Montana,North Dakota and South Dakota. There, they closed the river to boats because of extreme flooding. Volumes of words on reams of paper could not do justice to the days and weeks on the river. Days without seeing another person, camping along the rivers in a small tent. Facing storms, day after day. Strong winds, high waves, hail and rain. Storms in the night that would completely sink my boat. Paddling, when my motor would not run. Meeting every challenge. Going beyond the normal. Why did I do it? “Because I could.”
Henry Van Dyke also wrote, “It is with rivers as it is with people. The greatest are not always the most agreeable, nor the best to live with.” Lay your lap top down. Turn your TV off. Forget about your cell phone and ask yourself, “Have I fulfilled the desires of my heart? Have I gone beyond the normal? Do I still have the ability God gave me to live a full and complete life? My bet is on you. You can, if you will.
Because We Can .... Larry Myers