Yesterday, Today, and Forever: Building a History with God

Anybody reading this blog old school??

Does anybody reading find yourself getting lost in an old school song that comes on the radio or a rerun of your favorite old school sitcom? Look up “old school” in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of your boy, Kirk “kid fresh” Franklin!

Yes, KID FRESH was my break dance name back in the day. Parachute pants, K-SWISS sneakers, and a Jehri-curl that would make me look like I was sweating in December. I love reminiscing about the good ole days in the neighborhood I grew up in. I drive by the old house from my childhood often, and will sometimes find myself looking for some of the old homies I grew up with, knowing that most of them are gone… in some ways good, and some ways bad. My childhood memories are filled with both joy and pain, but no matter what thoughts fill my mind, looking back and smiling or crying is something that is part of the beauty of memories. You have them too… your first date, your first car, that song that made you get all emotional every time you played it on the record player [record player…haven’t said that word in a long time!] It’s easy to pull up those memories. They impacted us so deeply they created for us a history.

My question to you: Have you developed that kind of history with God? When you find your life in trouble, are you able to pull up memories of past storms where God walked on the water for you and calmed the waters in your heart? If you haven’t developed that type of history with God, you are going to continue to have a hard time on your life’s journey because you and God don’t share any memories.

Imagine what it would be like if a husband and wife who’ve been married for years weren’t able to sit in the park and laugh together at memories of their life together. Good marriages give people a chance to reflect after the years — at times they may cry when they look back on the rough days. But they can just as easily pull up days when the loads got lighter and the “SON” shined through the dark.

They laugh, cry, then laugh again because they have memories together that they can pull from if the days ever get dark again.

That’s what you need.

You need for you and God to build some memories together. You keep getting beat up on the road because you don’t walk with Him… Your relationship with God is “emergency mode” only. That’s not how you build history. You need to be able to see God’s fingerprints from back in the day. The days you were broke, afraid, and lonely and the supernatural experience of His power filled your locker room, your dorm, your cubicle. You need to be able to flood yourself with memories in advance.

So when the next wave comes, you can smile and say, “I remember this one… if He did it before, He can do it again.”

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