It’s hard to walk when you know how to run…

I recently began thinking about this concept of the Christian walk when I popped my knee cap… again.

When I was still heavy it happened regularly (like every 3 months for a year). I actually was diagnosed with having an underdeveloped muscle in my knee when I was 16.  When this happens I have to be really really careful and wear a brace, etc. Well in the process of losing weight I came to actually enjoy jogging on my treadmill. Shocking for a girl who had bad knees and a history of asthma. But I worked my way up till I could jog. Tonight I walked on my treadmill. It seemed to take forever. It seemed more natural to keep increasing the speed, but it wouldn’t have been healthy. I have to retrain the muscles of my knee to walk before I can jog again. As I was walking it came to me how often we refer to the life of a Christian as a “Christian walk.”

We often hold up those who “walk with God” as being saints and patriarchs… men and women to be used as life models. Enoch walked so close to God that he was taken to heaven without seeing death. We are considered blessed when we walk “not in the counsel of the ungodly”(Ps 1:1). We are commanded to walk by faith. We will “hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” (Isaiah 30:21) So what is it about this lifestyle that deems it a walk?

A walk is deliberate. If you have ever watched children and teachers in the hallway of a school, the teacher is not admonishing the children to run but to walk. To slow down seems to be something that is against human nature (to a point). For some of us it seems that the busier we are the more people seem to think we can do. But the more we cram into our day the more we are likely to “run” around.  To walk with God requires a deliberate action on our part to slow down our pace.

If you have ever tried to carry on a conversation with someone while jogging? It gets more difficult the longer you keep the pace or the faster the pace gets. When we are running around in our  daily life it can be hard to truly have a conversation with Our Father. That He would want that conversation with us should be enough to stop us in our tracks let alone slow us to a walk. As we take the time to have a deliberate relationship with Him, He is able to point out His effects on our lives (a beautiful sunrise on a morning you had to get up early, a mysterious gift on a day when you need to feel the love of a friend, someone stopping you to give a compliment on something that you thought no one would notice). He is able to do so much more for us when take the time to cultivate that loving Father/ Child relationship that He is offering us.

Instead of resenting the seeming endless slow pace, let’s rejoice in possibility of time spent with the God, who created the universe, who waits patiently for us to spend one-on-one time with Him.

My new car!!! Ok so it’s not a car it’s an SUV….

I know it’s an SUV… But after driving a car for almost ten years it is hard to break the habit…

This is still at the dealership just before I drove away with Yeoman. I know I named it a guy name (for those of you who know Frank, you understand why…….) I was going to have my students vote for the name for my car, but I realized that I hadn’t chosen any names that had to do with being a forester. So being a literature teacher I named my car after the forester in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. 

I have been accused of being a tree hugger while in this car. When it has a bike on the back it does lend itself to that look :-) Just wait till I have the kayak on the top and the bike on the back I’ll look like a green freak for sure.

 

 

Can you tell I love the sun roof???

He was waiting

Just recently I heard a song that hinted at the idea that Jesus stopped at the well to wait for the adulterous woman to come along. I was a little skeptical, so I grabbed my Bible and checked, what I found made me think.

The Bible does not specifically state that Jesus was waiting for the woman to come by the well. However, keep in mind the fact that Jesus knows each and every one of us inside and out, then look at the Scriptures.

¹ Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John ² (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), ³ He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. ⁴ But He needed to go through Samaria.
⁵ So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

Is it beyond the realm of possibility to say that He was waiting for her. Women of the time did not wait till noon to draw water. It was simply too hot for that kind of work at that time of the day. But due to the fact that she was a shunned woman, she went when the rest of the women would have already finished with their water drawing. They didn’t want to associate with her, so it was uncomfortable to work at the well when they were there.

The Bible depicts Jesus as being weary and tired. He stayed at the well as the disciples went into the town to get supplies. But why would He stay at the well during a time of day when the women would not be able to draw water for him. The wells were not equipped with buckets to draw water with, so Jesus was thirsty sitting at a well with no means of drawing water.

Is it too far fetched to believe that the Creator of mankind knew that she would come to the well at that time of day, and not only waited for her to come, but sent His disciples on ahead so that He would be able to talk to her without their prejudices? I don’t think so. Because I serve a God who knows my schedule, loves me, and will wait to intercept me at times when He needs to show me my need for His blessings. When I stop the craziness of my day to  seek Him and spend time in His peaceful presence, He is there waiting with open arms to receive me and give me my portion of living water that is so necessary. A God who is so willing to spend time with me is surely a God who was willing to stop along a dusty road waiting for a woman that society shunned and was an enemy of His people. Even she was shocked that anyone would talk to her let alone someone that was a racial rival.

I at times have a crazy schedule and when I have friends who know my schedule and remember when I am available it amazes me (I don’t always remember:-). But to know that I have a God who not only is aware that I exists, but would take time to know my schedule and sends blessings just when I need them throughout the day, now that is truly amazing. May we never lose sight of the God, who purposely waits for us to come to His well. May we also seek the living water from the source that never runs dry.