YORK Peppermint Patties are my all-time favorite candy. I can remember when they were actually manufactured right here in York and I would walk downtown and purchase a bag of fresh from the factory candy. The peppermint patties were amazing – better even than the commercials make them seem! The aroma of the sharp peppermint overriding the smell of the industrial area. The sounds of the assembly line and the noise of the people as they worked in the factory. And the taste – Oh my gosh! The crisp, sharp tang of the mint mixed with the underlying rich dark chocolate….all creamy smoothness as they melted in your mouth. UN – BE – LIEVABLE!!

Get the sensation?

That’s kind of what I like to do when I read the book of Joshua as we work through the Some Assembly Required series. Eat peppermint patties? Naw – get the sensation! I challenge you to re-read Joshua and try to imagine what it would have been like to be a part of his journey of one hundred and ten years.

Can you hear the strange sounds of the night animals and feel the sweat run down your back as you sneak through enemy territory on a scouting mission?

Can you smell the cooking fires and feel the grass under your feet as you pace on the side of the river bank, frustrated and longing for the promised land of milk and honey?

Can you envision the huge wall of trembling water as it backs up; smell the fishy, marshy river bed as the water seeps into the mud. Can you imagine the confusion and chaos as 40,000 men (plus wives, children, livestock and supplies) cross the river?

And then there are the battles, the wars and the disagreements, the discrepancies and the deceptions……Joshua is NOT a dry, boring, history book. It’s alive with sensations and a very sensible moral to the story –

Be strong and courageous

Do not turn to the left or the right

And trust God to give you everything you need to do whatever He asks.