ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Blog By Joe Riddle
I have three young children, and they have completely rekindled my love of animated movies. What’s interesting about these films is how there is usually a story hidden inside of the story. Consider the movie Zootopia. For the younger audience, this is a movie about a city full of talking animals. For the parents, this movie initiates an honest conversation about tolerance and diversity along with heavy doses of humor that goes right over the heads of little ones in the audience. At one point, the kids see the rabbit police officer, Judy Hopps, pursuing a criminal investigation. Her work takes her to a DMV… staffed only by sloths. The scene that transpires is well worth your time if you haven’t seen it before. This lighthearted scene takes on an entirely different meaning and level of humor for anyone who has ever had to be in the DMV before. See what I mean? Same scene, but two different levels of engagement for the audience.
Like Zootopia, there is a story hidden inside of your story, and with the pace of 21st century living, we can totally miss this deeper—this truer—story of our lives if we are not careful. In Deuteronomy 2, we see Israel is wandering through the wilderness. They were given a promise to inherit a land set apart for them by God, but that promise has been seemingly interrupted by 40 years of wandering through a desert that only requires six or seven days to traverse on foot. Picking up at verse 2 it says, “And the Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying, ‘You have circled around this mountain long enough. Now turn north…’”
I assure you, there were two entire different story lines at work that day. For the children of Israel, this was another day of surviving in a harsh environment. Millions of people in a desert. Fed with manna. Many of them daily asking why they ever exchanged life in Egypt for their current, mind numbing and soul crushing reality of being a migrant people in a land that was inhospitable to virtually all forms of life. It was the movie Ground Hog Day on an epic scale.
But there was another story hidden inside of their story that came breaking through to the fore that day. Because God speaks to Moses and says, “Moe, enough is ENOUGH!” …and with that God gives him directions that orient and begin to bring Israel towards their Promised Land.
I believe Wave Conference is going to be that same moment for all of us. It will be the time, or the place where God will break into many lives and say, “Enough is enough. I have something more for you. It’s time to turn north.” Much of Christianity’s conversations today are about us seeking God. And I believe that is a story that is incredibly true and worth talking about. However, there is a story hidden inside of that story… and it is the story of God seeking us.
Why should you prioritize being at Wave Conference this year? Because God is seeking you. There is so much more that He is looking to do in and through you. Do you know what your next step is in life? You won’t discover or attain it by just walking around the same mountain. Just as Israel had to turn north, so must you. Break out of your normal schedule. Allow God to speak to you about the eternal story hidden and disguised in the midst of your everyday schedule. Join us at conference this year, and see what happens when you realize long before you ever sought God… He was seeking you.