After an early morning and a very long day of walking, meeting, talking, walking, eating, walking, talking, eating, listening, voting, walking (get the picture?) I'm finally back in the hotel room. I am tired, but I do have to admit that I really love being here this week. I grew up coming with my parents to the "the convention." My family friends were and are pastors. We talk a lot during the year by phone, Facebook, Twitter and text about the joys and burdens of ministry. However, there is something very encouraging and energizing about sitting across a table from an old friend and seeing what God is doing in their life, their family and their ministry. For a people person like myself there really are very few things that are better than spending a day meeting and talking with many people that you've just met or have known for years. So, needless to say, it's been a good day.
"Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Genesis 22:1
"After these things..." After what things? After all the things of Abraham's life. Isn't that a strange place to assign such a sacrificial test? Normally we would expect that a man would be tested in the beginning of his life - in the years when the sun is rising. Why then is Abraham subjected to such a sacrificial test at sunset? Why has the sacrificial hour been placed at the close of his life? Isn't it normally expected that such test would come in the time when a man's power of sacrifice would be the most accurate measure of him? The simple answer is "No. No it's not."
