When I was Joel's age, I used to ride my bike to the store. Just down the street from my house was a Winn Dixie and a T.G.&Y. It was about two blocks away. I loved going there. I would save up a dime and get a dime's worth of lemon balls or M&M's or something like that. For a dime, you could get a pretty decent sugar rush.
However, where Joel and I live the store is 7 miles away. It's a pretty decent walk. I've thought on several occasions about walking there just to be able to say I did it. Plus, you can learn more about your road if you walk it. Joel and I walked it today. It takes a good bit longer to walk it than it does to drive. It takes about 10-15 minutes to drive there. It took us about 2 and a half hours to walk it. I will probably drive it mostly from now on. I think I learned enough about my road through the walking experience.
It was a different perspective in walking the road. The hill just past the Conecuh River seems much steeper when walking. You notice the traffic a lot more when walking. The river is lot prettier when walking. You notice the birds and animals a good bit more. We had 5 people stop and ask us if we needed a ride or something; 4 were members of our church. There is a real different point of view when walking.
Getting close
We managed to obey this law
About the only commercial attraction on the way
In sight of the goal; Joel decides to run and beat me to the goal
Done
The prize: eggrolls
I asked Joel about the walk just a few minutes ago. He's had several hours to think about it. He said, "It was fun and tiring." He can sum up an event in a few words. That's a pretty apt description. He did get tired. We took one break for about 2-3 minutes where he sat down and I used the restroom (there are restrooms along the route). He complained about being tired, how steep the hills were and how far it was a few times; not too many.
The best thing about it to me was that we had almost 2 and a half hours to walk and talk. We laughed a lot. We kidded around a good bit. He's 10 so we played soccer with rocks in the road when there was no traffic. We threw rocks off the bridge to watch them hit the water. I was asked more than once how much further it was. There was no TV, no electronics, or anything else to distract us. We just walked and talked.
The Bible says in Micah 6:8, "He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"
The Bible uses the word walk to describe our relationship with God in several places. It is a good word to describe our relationship with God. Walking is putting one foot in front of the other. It is step by step. It is not checking in with God in the morning and then again at night. It is much more of a deliberate sharing the details of life kind of relationship. The focus is much more moment by moment when you are walking with someone.
I'm not suggesting that you walk 7 miles to the store. I would recommend trying to see life as a "walking with God" kind of adventure.
Walking in the abundant life,
Barry
3 things I thank God for today
1. He invites me to walk with Him
2. Walking with Joel to town
3. Shoes
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