In-Stride With God

During Mr. Bill’s chemotherapy, he walked five miles almost every day. I tried to walk with him a few times, but I just couldn’t keep up! He’s a few inches taller than me which makes our strides a little different, but jeepers … he was walking & I was running!

Oswald Chambers wrote this: “The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting going on.” Ordinary tasks and times aren’t always our favorites; they tend to lull us into a state of apathy. I think of Mr. Jim who spent most of his life in education, however, after his retirement he took a position as a custodian. He found joy in the simple and otherwise mundane -- admiring a good shine on the bathroom floor and the sparkle of a brass stair handrail. We have trouble at times getting “in stride” with God, getting our “second wind spiritually.” One of my favorite Bible heroes is Enoch. Actually, we know very little about him except that he was Noah’s great-grandfather and Methuselah’s father yet his spiritual fame says it all, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24). His walk-with-God wasn’t just a small stretch – no, it was some 300 years! Three hundred years and there’s no mention of Enoch being out-of-step with Almighty God! Enoch never tasted the bitterness of death; he and God just walked on into eternity. Can there possibly be anything sweeter than being in-step with God, anything more deeply rich than that kind of communion with The Father! Be zealous in your walk with God, and don’t ever fret about matching strides with The Father … He’ll never leave you behind!