Grandfather Ed Wiley will spend 40 days and nights traveling from Charleston, WV to Washington, DC. He will endure record-setting summer heat, extreme and debilitating fatigue and hunger, and exhaustion the likes of which many of us have never felt.
Fortunately, this puts Ed in some pretty good company! The good book has some important precedents for Ed’s journey. Precedents which are also some of our favorite modern Biblical stories…
Noahs ark
40 days and nights of hellfire and brimstone!!! (but mostly rain)… (Gn 7:4,12,17; 8:6)
Jesus into the Desert
Before Jesus was crucified he fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert
Lehnt
The holiday of Lehnt is 40 days
The Ascension
His ascension to heaven occurs 40 days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).
Ten Commandments
After the sealing of the covenant at Mt. Sinai, Moses is with God on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights (Ex 24:18).
Iron and Wine
When the prophet Elijah is being pursued by Queen Jezebel, he flees for his life and travels 40 days and nights until he comes to the mountain of God at Horeb (Sinai) (1 Kgs 19:8).
There are three things of significance which consistently accompany these trials.
1) 40 days are a time of preparation for the good things that God has to come
2) 40 days are a time of trial
3) 40 days are always a time of deliverance and triumph
Onward Ed! Go to Pennies of Promise and support Ed’s journey!
JW RandolphRaised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.
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