This morning I was determined to get out of bed at 5 a.m.

I've pushed the snooze button way too many times this week!

It has been so nice having some quiet time again after several mornings in a row of waking up in a rush.

My Bible reading this morning from Joshua and I Chronicles focused on the assignments of land to the various tribes of Israel.

I would never be able to recall the names of all the cities and people who were listed in the chapters I read, but one thing rings clear.

Not everyone was given the same amount of land.

God knew just what every person and people group needed in the Promised Land,

and I wonder if the Psalmist was thinking back to this time in history when he penned these words in Psalm 16:

Psalm 16:5-6

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Through the years I have discovered, through my own choices and those of my friends, that God still has a desire to assign us our portion and our cup......

so that our boundaries fall in pleasant places.

If you know me well, you know that I have struggled through the years to find that "pleasant place" for myself.

I tend to bite off more than I can chew much more often than I say, "I'm sorry, that doesn't fit into my schedule."

I often feel inadequate if I'm not able to be as relaxed, "together," organized, etc., as this friend or that friend.

As I was reading this morning, my eyes caught the life of Caleb.

In Joshua 14, he approaches Joshua and makes a request for land for his people from the tribe of Judah.

Now 85 years old, he reminds Joshua of the events that had happened 45 years earlier when the two of them had spied on Canaan.

He reminds Joshua of the promise God had made to both of them at that time.

In his conversation with Joshua he mentions that he is "as strong now as when Moses sent him on that journey."

He states that he can still travel and fight as well as he could then, and he asks Joshua to give him the land God had promised him.

The Scriptures say that "Joshua blessed Caleb."

It goes on to say that because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the land still belongs to the descendants of Caleb and "the land had rest from war."

I'm struck today with Caleb's humility.

Joshua was chosen to take Moses' place.

Joshua led the people into the Promised Land.

Joshua became a leader.

Joshua has a book of the Bible named after himself.

Joshua is who we think of when he hear the words,