David spoke beautifully three times in the last week on the value of being a Caleb. And since I’m his wife I get to say it just once more – here.
Speaking first to the Leadership Team at CSB David took us to the well-known story of the two spies with the huge bundle of grapes. Noticing a strange comment in the text, he drew our attention to a phrase “there’s no food in the land, and those people are giants!!” Citing the audacity of such a contradictory remark, David drew on our time with Donovan, talking about the giant of fear in our lives and how fear distorts our reality and leads us to defeat. He talked about the giants of the land at CSB, the giants of our challenges, and called staff to be Calebs, visionary leaders with awesome faith that sees possibility and does not surrender to fear. Most striking to me was the passage in Numbers 13 that says ” we felt as small as grasshoppers and surely that is how we must have looked to them,” spoken by some of the less faith-full ten spies. Oh, how I relate! Feeling like a grasshopper could well define a lot of my last year at CSB. But God says this grasshopper is prepared to take possession of CSB, giants and all.

So we begin this year, empowered, because truth has been spoken. Pastor Bill Johnson says; “Your actions are determined by the reality you most believe in.” If I believe that I am a grasshopper unable to succeed, doomed to failure, I will act like one. If I believe that God has already given me possession of this land, and all it’s giants, then I will have a vision, great faith, and a heart of prayerful hope. So here goes this grasshopper, prepared to take on more than a few giants, because God is my strength. . . . .