Why Caleb

Tom here. I have been happy to let Leanne write her blogs to this point, but thought I should share the significance (at least to me) of the name we have chosen for our son. In Numbers 13 we find that Caleb is one of the twelve spies chosen by Moses to scout out the Promise Land. Caleb, along with Joshua, are the only spies that encouraged the people to follow through with God's plan. The other ten spies were afraid of the giants that lived in the land. Caleb and Joshua's faith was based on their belief that the conquest of the Promise Land was dependent on God's power, not their own. No matter how many or how big the giants were, their God was bigger. Because of their faith, they were the only two men of their generation to survive the forty years in the wilderness and enter the Promise Land. In Joshua 14 we find the rest of the story. Forty five years later the giants in the Promise Land still needed to be defeated. At 85 years of age Caleb once again steps up to volunteer to fight the giants. He is still confident that his God is bigger than any giant. His declaration of faith is found in verse 8- 'for my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.'
Caleb, both the companion of Joshua and the little boy in an Ethiopian orphanage, remind me that my God is bigger than any giant I might face. There is no wait long enough, no ocean wide enough, no financial obligation large enough to defeat my God. One day I will hold the son God has promised me and I will know- for my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.