Stay The Course

While out running the other day I came across a deer moving through the brush on the side of the trail. Wouldn't it be great if deer traveled on the trail like everyone else? Instead of weaving and dunking their way through branches and thicket.



I remember my high school days and participating in Cross Country. All of the races were the same as today, 3 miles. One of my favorite coaches was Coach K, who had the distinct pleasure of trying to break me of my bad habit of always looking behind, trying to see who was following or how many were following me.



My best finish throughout high school was second place in a race I should have won. No, my bad habit didn't do me in, it was not remembering where to turn on the course. What happened was I didn't pay attention during my team's warm-up to familiarize ourselves with the course. During the race I was in the lead up until about the last half mile, then I found myself coming up to some intersecting trails and didn't know which one to take. That's when I decided to non chalantly slow down hoping another runner was close behind. From what I can remember there were a few runners coming up behind me. Once they caught up I stayed with the pack, then once we got out of the woods and the finish line was in sight, it was everyman for himself, a sprint to the finish. Of course I had to save face and forget what pain I might have been experiencing and sprinted my butt off, winding up in a close second place.




Sometimes in life we have that tendency to veer off course when the path we are on isn't going the way we want it to. Or we think God is moving way too slow on our behalf. And when we take it upon ourselves and try to do it on our own that's when we get blindsided and make a mess of things. That's when we need to remind ourselves of God's Word:

As for God, His way is perfect;
the Word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him. (Psalm 18:30)

Though you may feel your life isn't going according to plan, or should I say, "according to your plan", remember we are under the grace of a great God who can do all things to them that believe. Though He may seem silent to you and your difficulty at times, or may appear to be at a distance, He really isn't at all. God is right there beside you, every step of the way. What does He say?

"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Here is something to carry with you on your journey down that straight and narrow path; this taken from the poem Footprints in the Sand:

When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.