Several years ago, now, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Italy. It was for an anniversary for my wife and I which has become one that we will never forget. When going to another country there are many things you must prepare for, and many things to worry about. But for some reason, on this trip I was not too worried or uptight about how we were going to get around or even communicate with people.
Yes, you are right – I am Italian, and that should probably give me a reason to be more at ease than most on a trip such as this, however, that might mean something if I actually knew how to speak Italian, or at least knew something of the country that some of my grandparents came from. But I don’t, and I know little about those times being that I wasn’t around.
And yet my comfort level was high. In fact, it was probably as I entered my 50’s one of the surest times ever felt. My confidence was high and so was my joy. I ponder now why, and have only come up with this…
I felt the favor of the Lord.
Now if you have read my blog for any amount of time, you will figure out that I am a movie buff. I have been since movies came out in the 1980’s came out that you could watch at home. I have collected my favorites and enjoy having the option to even own digital copies now.
So, this phrase, that I felt the favor of the Lord takes me to a movie called “Chariots of Fire”. A wonderful portrayal of Eric Lidell, a missionary who was also extraordinarily fast! He ran for Great Britain in the Olympics and stood for his religious rights at the same time. My kind of guy!! And his quote in this movie which is in my top ten is “…when I run, I feel His favor…”
I get it. There are things I do even now in my life in which I understand that because of the feeling the favor of the Lord brings. And when I was in Italy, sightseeing, experiencing another culture, visiting the home of my relatives, and especially touring cathedral after wonderful cathedral, I felt the favor of the Lord.
When Brenda and I stepped off the train that took us to Venice – the city of waterways, and when we walked out onto the veranda off the train platform – The city stretched in front of us. And through blinking tears and eyes wide with the beauty of Cathedral after cathedral and water roads, and the history and magnificence within it, and to whom these cathedrals were made to and for… It was breathtaking.
Psalm 84:11 NIV For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
So, think back to the last time you felt the favor of the Lord. It might have even been this morning for you. It most certainly wasn’t for me, as my dogs ran me in circles around our yard, but for you think of that time.
Take it in, breathe it in. God wants us to be in His favor more, especially just in our regular everyday lives.
I pray every day we can find a way to be in the favor of our Lord.
Peace,
PTV