“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.”
~ Numbers 33:55
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to go on long trips? When your dad makes a long trip, does your dad make an itinerary or a travel plan of the places where he is planning to stop? Do you remember every place that you have visited? At the end of the forty year exodus to the land area that God was giving to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land, God had Moses record in a book all the places where the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids – who were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids, stopped. Moses recorded all these places in Numbers 33. While the Egypt nation of guys and gals were entombing all their firstborn boys, the Israelite people group of over two million guys, gals and kids were quickly leaving Rameses – a district in Egypt, to head for a land area – which was the land area of Canaan, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or Israel – who were the patriarchs of the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids, had lived for most of their lives. God in the middle of the night had the firstborn boy killed who was born in an Egyptian family. God passed over each house where an Israelite people group family was living who had painted the doorframe of their house with lamb’s blood. The Israelite people group guys, gals and kids probably left Egypt on the 15th of Nisan. The exodus to the land area of Canaan probably could have been made in weeks but it took the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids forty years to finally arrive at a jump off point – which was on the Moab plain by the Jordan River and across from the city of Jericho, into Canaan’s land area. Moses recounted forty places where the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids spent time on their extended hike to the land area that God was giving to them to always to have to live in as their very own land. How would you have liked to have gone on that forty year exodus? Your grandpaa thinks that you would have probably soon have gotten tired of walking – that you would have probably started really wishing that your dad and ma had not taken you with them on what would turn out to be a long, tedious journey through inhospitable terrain with what was called manna the only food that you would eat each day and on which your dad and ma would die before you finally made it to a place where you could go into Canaan’s land area – the land area that God was giving to you and your fellow Israelite people group guys, gals and kids to always to have to live in as your very own land.
During the first couple of years after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to join the South America Mission field missionary team that was in Bolivia, your grandpaa was asked to make a couple of over three week long trips with the President of A.I.E.O. (Asociación de Iglesias Evangélicos del Oriente) – which translates into English as ‘Association of Evangelical Churches in the East’. All the Christ-follower communities of guys, gals and kids that are affiliated with South America Mission in Bolivia make up A.I.E.O. Your grandpaa on one of these trips went with Jesús García – who was then the President of A.E.I.O., first to Pailón – a town that is located about fifty kilometers from Santa Cruz – which is where your grandmaa, grandpaa, dad and Aunt Lynn lived when they first arrived in Bolivia. Your grandpaa and Jesús rode in a ferrobus – which is a two car train, to Pailón. Your grandpaa and Jesús walked the ten or so kilometers from Pailón to Posa Verde – which is the name of an Ayoré camp. Your grandpaa and Jesús then took a rápido – which is a passenger train, from Pailón to the towns of Portón, San José, Chochís and Roboré. Your grandpaa and Jesús then backtracked to San José where they found a pickup that would take them to their next two stops – which was to a village called Villa Cruz and to the town of San Ignacio. South American Mission’s flying arm – SAM/Air, picked up your grandpaa and Jesús in San Ignacio and flew them into a region called the Lomerio. Your grandpaa and Jesús were then flown to Zapoco – which is the name of another Ayoré camp, then to the town of Concepción, to a jungle village that is called Monte Verde and to the town of San Javier and then to Santa Cruz. Other than for a couple of radio contacts during the time that your grandpaa was away from his home in Santa Cruz, he did not know what was happening with your grandmaa, dad and Aunt Lynn. Your grandmaa had to get your dad and Aunt Lynn off to school each school day. Your grandmaa had to do all the shopping. Your grandpaa really enjoyed the adventures that he had during each trip that he made with an A.I.E.O. President. Your grandmaa did just fine taking care of everything at home while your grandpaa was on a trip. After your dad and Aunt Lynn began going to school at Tambo – which was the New Tribes missionary kids boarding school in Bolivia, your grandmaa oftentimes would make trips with your grandpaa. Your dad and Aunt Lynn were able to travel throughout eastern Bolivia with South America Mission summer teams that came to Bolivia and which your grandmaa and grandpaa administrated and led. If you were in Bolivia right now, you would see captivating, intriguing things, have fulfilling, fascinating experiences and eat different, tasty food.
If your dad and ma – about 3400 years ago, were an Israelite people group guy and gal and you had been on a forty year exodus in a barren desert, your grandpaa is sure that you would be very ready to settle down someplace. You would also be old enough to understand what verse 55 says to do, ““‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.” God will use journeys as life teaching tools for a guy or gal to internalize through experiences what He wants him or her to know about how important it is of keeping his or her eyes on Him.
Numbers 33 (744)