If I am going to play beautiful music I need to practice. If I am going to play beautiful music in harmony with you, I have to practice my keys and then I need to practice harmonizing my keys with yours. We then are able to step lively to the music, performing a beautiful dance!
I am Practicing my steps, being a “stepping stone” to Life:
Joseph knew (God-sight) that he was a stepping stone in an out of the way place for what God was doing with His people. Life was not about Joseph building palaces in Egypt. Life was about Joseph being the oasis in the famine in order to preserve the family of God and their neighbors. In addition God had given him the ability to provide a place for the family to live on the lush flood plain of the Nile in order for the Israelites (God’s family) to increase in number and grow into a great nation. “So Joseph remained in Egypt along with his father’s house … And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that He repeatedly swore to our fathers (Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob). ‘God will surely visit you, and fulfill His promise and you shall carry up my bones from here.’ So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt awaiting (for 400 years) the transport out. Gen. 50:22-26
My desire as a parent is to be a stepping stone to those who God places in my life. There are serious consequences for being a tripping stone. I therefore practice stepping in the way of Life! All those who follow me have a safe place to step!