Today's scripture readings are about trust.  Elisha kills the cow, burns the plow, kisses mom and dad good-bye and then follows Elijah.  I'm not sure what mom and dad thought about all of this, but Elisha obviously trusted Elijah.  The psalmist sings that his heart is glad, his soul rejoices and his body abides in confidence.  His joy comes from trusting God.  And Jesus tells his disciples "Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no," no oaths or vows.  He calls them to a change from the status quo.  To trust him.

Trust.  It seems pretty important.  And it seems so simple.  Is it?  The Bible often tells us to "trust in the Lord."  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm supposed to trust God.  One of my favorite old hymns is "Standing On The Promises."  Trust God to make good on his promises.  Jesus told the disciples to drop everything and follow him.  And they did.  Would I be able to trust as deeply as they did?  

My wife and I are currently taking a foster parenting class.  Originally, this was one of those "how did she talk me into this?" things, but it has turned into an amazing learning experience for me.  A baby is born into the world, voices a need, a parent meets that need, trust is established.  It seems so simple and basic.  What happens when that trust is never established or the parent breaks that trust?  Foster care kids typically come from an environment where trust is a pretty tough thing to come by.  They've put their faith in someone who has abused, neglected or rejected them.  Some of the stories break your heart.  The kicker is that after all this has happened, the foster parent takes the child into their home and says "trust me."  Trust can be a hard thing to establish.  I look at my own children.  Their lives don't necessarily revolve around me, but they do revolve around trusting me.  Food, shelter, clothing, their plans, their goals, everything.  I try to imagine the impact on them if I simply left.  

Some friends from church have adopted two children from Russia.  Our friends were warned that these infants were institutionalized and would be far behind their counterparts socially.  They had never established a bond of trust with an adult.  It's been a joy to watch these kids blossom in a loving and trusting relationship.  What power there can be in trust.  God wants us to trust Him.  He wants us to blossom and flourish.  He loves us.  He wants our life to be full and blessed.  My prayer would be that I would be more trusting and that my faith would be strong enough that I would be able to place my life in Gods hands.