The Walk Of Your Life

I need knee replacement surgery, and in an effort to postpone it, have been getting a series of injections in my knee. So that's where this afternoon found me, in the waiting room for today's shot. There's nothing like spending time in the waiting room of a large orthopedic surgical practice to put your problems in perspective. Most of these patients are in wheelchairs, braces, crutches, and worse. At least I had WALKED in! But it got me to thinking about walking. These pictures are of a walk we passed last fall. We asked one of the participants what they were walking for, and they said it was called The Crop Walk. I had not heard of that one. There are quite a few walks in our area. There is a walk for unwed pregnant girls, and several cancer walks. It seems that any cause of note has either a walk or a ribbon. In old Testament times, most people walked everywhere. On a good day, the average person could cover 16 miles a day on foot. Hebrews 12:1 says "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Of course this is an analagy, and I'm glad, because my days of running are long gone. But then let's look at Ecc. 9:11 "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong." That sounds more like it. Just think how much we would miss if we ran through life! Jesus had so much to do in His short life, but can you ever imagine him running anywhere? He never seemed rushed. So I think that life is not so much a race as a long walk. A walk that is run not by speed, but by faith in letting our maker chart our course, because He can see far ahead of our path. And when we do this, here is how our walk will end. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31