Almost

So this weekend was lots of fun. Great weather...perfect for camping..which is what we did. We spent the night right beside a creek at Laurel Falls. We went with Morgan and Whitney and had a lot of fun. Then we went to Jerri's soccer game on Saturday which she won 2-0. Then we went to Best Buy where we found an awesome deal on a laptop, so we bought it..YAY. Then we went home so that Adam could yell at the TV during the AU vs. LSU game. It started out great...auburn got the first touchdown. I thought I was safe..I laid down beside Adam on the couch and went to sleep (my favorite activity during a football game). However, around 10:30 I was woken up to Adam yelling and doing the guy thing. LSU scored a touchdown in the last 2 minutes of the game and WON. I decided that I would just go onto bed and let him deal with this loss privately :). When he came to bed about 20 minutes later he leaned over and said " we almost had it". As we talked we both realized that God must think that about his people quite often " they almost had it"...and his sadness must be compounded. Lately, we have been in Genesis and there are several people and circumstances where we could say "they almost had it". For example Sarah and Abraham... In Genesis 15

But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit ^[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Only one chapter later we see Sarah and Abraham forgetting what the Lord has promised and forging ahead with thier own desires.

Genesis 16:

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."

6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

If they only knew that God already had Isaac on his mind. If they would have only let Him be God instead of doing things thier own way. Thus we have Hagar and Ishmael come into the picture and the beginnings of the Muslim belief system. It might be a bit much to compare almost winning a football game to almost following God's perfect plan but He can certainly work through our worldly activities to reveal things to us.