#278: Don't be hatin: Allowing God to build momentum on our small beginnings

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zechariah 4:10a</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My small beginnings as a runner after reading a book by Dean Karnazes</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After coming out of an 80 year Babylonian exile and having the glorious temple that King Solomon built be reduced to rubble, it was now time for God’s people to rebuild a new temple where Yahweh would reside and be worshiped.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To the younger generation, this was a huge milestone. But to the “old-timers” who saw or heard firsthand stories about the glory & splendor of the previous temple, this latest edition paled in comparison. You can almost hear the chatter among the seasoned veterans, “I miss the good-ole days” or “They just don’t make em like they used to.” “You call THAT a temple?”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">God had a message for Zechariah to pass along to both young and old alike…</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the</span></em> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Lord</span></em> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">(Zech. 4:10a NLT)</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sure, this latest temple 2.0 seemed modest compared to the previous version 1.0 but God still wanted them to celebrate the fact that construction had begun. Progress was now being made. A hopeful momentum was now set in motion.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zechariah is an invitation for us to surrender our expectations of what our books have to look like and the process that we go through to finish them. It’s also moving on from the “good ole days” and looking forward to what the Lord has ahead.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We hear all kinds of naysayers both outside and inside our heads: “Who are YOU to be writing a book?”, “My writing isn’t as