It's amazing how many excuses you can come up with for disobedience.The most dangerous excuses are the ones that sound the most plausible. I know a big one for me is the old, 'it's just too difficult.' I'm telling myself this at the beginning of this orphan/mercy ministry adventure because if there's one thing I'm feeling right now, it's that the obstacles are just too big. And they are only going to get bigger.Like raising the outgoing funds. I don't even like to say how much they say we're supposed to raise. Or the monthly support. And I know looking back a few years from now, I'm going to be saying that wasn't even the hard stuff.I guess there are some people who look at obstacles like that and they struggle with the whole self-reliance/pride issue - instead of looking to God they just try to overcome on their own. I think for me, I struggle with a different kind of pride - instead of looking to God, I'm tempted to give up.And then excuse it.I wonder if that's the way it is for a lot of people when it comes to doing good. They know they are supposed to. They see the need. But instead of stepping up, stepping out, they shut down, hide themselves away and try to insulate themselves from ever seeing the hurting and the opportunities for doing good that are out there.And they tell themselves, they would but it's just too difficult.Their excuses might be different than mine. It is that they are too busy at work. Or that they don't know what to do. That they've got to make money to save up for retirement. The needs are too overwhelming.But I think of who God is, the promises He's given, and it's clear that when we have a command of God - when we can look at Scripture, explain it accurately, and what we are supposed to do is clear - there are no real excuses for giving up, there is only disobedience.And so I ask you, quoting Dawson Trotman:"What's the biggest think you've asked God for this week?..." Remember, you are going to "God, the Father, the Maker of the Universe.  The One who holds the world in His hands.  What did you ask for?  Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents?  I want to tell you, its tragic. The little itsy-bitsy things we ask of our Almighty God.  Sure nothing is too small-but also nothing is too big."