The clouds snuffed out any possibility of moonlight as we peered down the long gravel road. “Um, I don’t know about this,” I said. I slowly drove our family down the driveway as we finally approached a house. We could see a man and woman sitting in their living room, but they didn’t appear to be expecting us.  I knew they could see our truck, but they didn’t move a muscle. “Are we at the wrong house? Can you call them?” I asked my wife, Erin. She responded with, “I’ve only been chatting with them on Facebook. I don’t have their number.” My anxiety grew as I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What do you want me to do?” she asked. All that came out of my mouth was, “I want you to get a new hobby!”

Our simple mission of buying five hens from a local farm had become complicated. We found ourselves a quarter mile down a dark road in the middle of nowhere. The only people I saw acted like they weren’t expecting us. I prepared for some sort of eerie setup as I saw a man coming from behind the house. All I could make out was a headlamp about fifty yards into the woods. “This is it, our lives are possibly over.” I thought.

The man approached our truck and peered into the window. “Hey, y’all here for the chickens? Pull on up to the barn,” he said. My mind continued to race. Why did he come from the woods and not the house? Why does that barn look like something from a horror film? Why are we risking our lives for 5-dollar hens?

Against my better judgement, I exited the vehicle. He explained to us that the chickens were even further into the mysterious darkness. We just needed to follow him and his wife so we could help him pick them up. I chose our oldest, Knox, to accompany me and advised Erin and our youngest son, Eli, to stay in the truck during the hike.

Armed with nothing but Crocs and pajamas, we followed the man into the dark. The dull illuminated stream of light from his headlamp wasn’t much help as Knox held my hand. Occasionally, he would ask us to watch out for the cow or anthill. “What cow?” I thought. We could see nothing. The man’s head turned to the right and briefly shed light on the side of a cow. We both jumped! Cows were only a few feet away and we had no idea.   

After what felt like a half mile, we arrived at an old stinky coop. “Five chickens. They’re all here,” he said. He pointed to his wife and asked her to grab two. He then pointed to me and asked the same. Finally, he pointed at Knox and asked if he could grab one too. Knox’s eyes were as wide as cow pies. Although he had held chickens many times, we were both scared to death now. It was still pitch black and we couldn’t even tell where we had come from. “Knox, you can do this. There will be a nice prize when this is all over if you can help us,” I said, “we’re together.”

In a beautiful moment of courage, he grabbed the last chicken and tucked her under his arm like a football. We dodged cow pies and kicked ant hills the whole way back to the truck. We were safe. He was proud. I was proud. The mission was accomplished.   

Bravery was the outcome of our talk. The future reward and promise made all the difference that night.

Do you think Joshua felt brave when Moses handed over leadership to him? I would think not. The future of the Israelites and their journey was being turned over to him. I imagine this was overwhelming at first.

Did Moses say, “Hey man, I’m getting old. Good luck, these folks are a handful. Hopefully you’ll make it.”? No, he commissioned him by providing the most assuring words imaginable. Let’s look.

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:7

This changes the game! The promise (God never leaves you) and reward (promised land) are the words he spoke to Joshua. These words provided the courage he needed. They breathed life into him. Only then was he ready for the mission.

God will never leave you nor forsake you. Sure, there will be anthills and cow pies in life. We’ve all stepped in those. There will be things you can’t even see coming like 900-pound cows three feet to your right or a dirty chicken you never intended to carry. However, He still holds your hand as you walk through the dark. There’s a beautiful eternal promise waiting for you when you receive Jesus as your savior. Remember this, and you’ll be ready for the mission.

Just fishing with my daddy,

Ryan

P.S. The people on the farm turned out to be amazing. We were able to talk with them for a while when we got back to the truck. This memory will be told for generations to come.