Sunday after church I donned my snake proof boots, sprayed insect repellant all over me, picked up a machete and along with my plantation manager hacked my way into thick vegetation leading into the woods.
My wife and I decided that we really don’t want to leave Honey Lake. Many of our friends live here, and of course our church is here and it is our home now. So I decided to sell a portion of Honey Lake Resort, (approximately 3700 hundred acres) and keep the remaining 1000 or so acres and build a new home on it.
The land I’m keeping has mainly served as a hunting plantation and is in need of a good driveway for a home. I was dissatisfied with the existing road entrance to the property and wanted a more dramatic view. In driving around and checking out various ways to enhance the view for it, I kept noticing some very large beautiful oak trees which appeared to be growing right in the middle of a swamp that is adjacent to the existing road. Ten foot briars and other vegetation lined the road and I couldn’t see inside what seemed to be a swamp; however I could see huge oak trees towering high above the vegetation.
Since the trees that I could see are not the type trees that live in swamps, I became convinced that it was not swamp at all, (at least this section of it), and that my new driveway could be built through it. The only way to confirm it though was to hack through the briars and go in and take a look around for myself. I talked to my plantation manager at church Sunday and asked if he was up for the adventure and he readily agreed. So we found an entry point and hacked our way through the bamboo and briars and lo and behold just as I had surmised it was drop dead gorgeous inside and dry as a bone.
We found a high ridge that ran almost a direct route from my planned entry and exit of the proposed new driveway. Once we got past about thirty feet of high vegetation it offered a magnificent view. The route we wanted to go appeared to be a perfect natural roadway and may even have been a road long ago. It opens up into a beautiful hardwoods bottom with century’s old magnificent oaks and other beautiful trees inside and a huge magnolia tree that is simply stunning along the proposed route. To say it is beautiful is an understatement and when the brush is removed and it gets properly mowed out it will be fun to drive home through this section.
Prior to Sunday I’d talked to a neighbor who has agreed to use a bulldozer and other equipment to prepare my driveway for blacktopping. He told me I was crazy to even consider going through this area and wanted to go straight up a grassy hill following a power line; (the path of least resistance). I pointed out the oaks and told him that I felt it was dry in there and wanted to divert the driveway through that area and take a different more aesthetic route, (far removed from the power line). He derisively snorted, shook his head, and said, “Dang boy, don’t you know that’s black water swamp. You can’t go through there!”
I again pointed out the oak trees and told him that trees like those cannot tolerate water and there had to be a high area in there. He looked at me like a five year old child and shook his head as though I was crazy.
Hmmm . . . I’ve seen that look many times in my life. I come up with a vision and it is pooh pooed by one and all. I’ve heard this kind of naysaying virtually every time I’ve built a company and now that I’m working in the ministry I’ve been hearing it about the Jesus Alliance. Well I built the companies anyway and the Jesus Alliance is picking up steam and will soon be a global entity. I often wonder what the naysayers think when they see the impossible actually happen.
My life’s verse is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I believe that verse with all of my heart and have seen it happen time after time in my life. Don’t let anyone talk you out of your dreams. Big, bold, unconventional ideas scare people, but they shouldn’t scare you. We serve a creative God. Just imagine how big and bold His ideas are. We are created in His image. Just go for it already, don’t listen to the doubters and instead put your faith in God and the abilities with which He has gifted you. You will be pleased at what you can achieve.
Today I’ll show that old geezer how I want the road to go. It is flagged all of the way through the area and he can walk in there following the trail that we blazed with our machetes and look at it himself. Soon the land that he said was black water swamp will host a paved driveway and offer a glorious ride through a piece of God’s paradise. Had I allowed that old codger to influence me, I would have followed an ugly power line right up the hill to my new home site.
Ughhh!
Isaiah 40:31
They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
August 3, 2015 – Click here to listen