Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Guard Your Heart (06/08/12)
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TITLE: A Journey Through the States | Previous Challenge Entry
By Allen Povenmire
06/11/12 -
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While these are the geographical States that I’ve been to, there have certainly been other states that I’ve dabbled in, and even spent considerable time in, that are not on any map. I bet with a bit of reflection, you’ve been to these states at various times in your life as well.
One morning at work in 2001, my wife phoned and told me someone had just flown an airplane into the World Trade Center. I first found myself in a State of Ignorance, not really knowing for sure exactly what the World Trade Center was, nor what it represented. Before that fateful day, we now know simply as 9/11, I think most of our country lived more in a State of Innocence, not fully realizing the capacity of evil our world was capable of.
Later that fateful morning, I gathered around a television with others, watching in silence at those unbelievable events. I stood in a State of Disbelief as people leapt from the upper floors of the towers before the buildings finally collapsed. I’m certain I traveled through the States of Confusion, Understanding, and Anger, in that order. You might well have had the same travel itinerary...
Several times during my career, I was uprooted from one work location to another. It seemed that each move occurred while my life was residing in a State of Contentment. With each incident, I entered a State of Doubt of whether or not God was truly in control of the situation. But every time, through the vehicle of hindsight, I was delivered to a State of Awareness that He indeed was guiding my life in order to achieve His purpose for me and my family.
In August of 2003, we were vacationing with our grown children, grandchildren, and my in-laws. We’d pulled campers to a favorite campground in Branson, Missouri. Basking in the States of Joy and Happiness all week, we enjoyed swimming, boating, and all the area had to offer.
About three o’clock on our final day there, my mother called and hit me with news that jerked me to a State of Devastation...biopsies had confirmed that the suspicious spots on my father’s chest x-rays were indeed cancerous. Without treatment, he would live about six months...and there really wasn’t a feeling that treatment would do any good. I sat alone in a State of Shock.
Later, I pulled my wife aside and told her the grim news. She immediately led us to a State of Prayer. I asked her not to say anything to the rest of the group. I didn’t want our last night to be spent in the States of Gloom and Despair. Later that evening, I treated my father-in-law to his first ever helicopter ride, and had an especially memorable time on an area thrill ride with our oldest daughter. You might say I was spending time in a State of Denial, but I think it was more a State of Realization of how precious our time with family really is...eight short months later I stood over my dad’s flag-draped casket in the definite States of Loss and Grief.
All too often, I’ve not dwelled in a State of Appreciation for all that has been sacrificed on my behalf. Further, I’ve sinfully lingered at times in a State of Apathy about my salvation, keeping my heart to myself instead of sharing the fullness of the Father’s perpetual State of Grace.
Yes, I’ve had the good fortune to visit a good portion of our great country. But it has been the various States that my heart has traveled through, often despite my efforts to protect it, that have left the deepest impressions in my life. It was during those journeys that God molded and shaped me into the man I am today.
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