Jogging With My Sons, Walking With My Father

I recently invited my children to go on a jog with me through the neighborhood.  Strong-willed, growing, and full of energy, they turned the jog into a competition.  As we began the route, one of my sons took off full speed trying to outdo his brother.  We watched as he sped hundreds of feet ahead.  Occasionally he would turn back and give us a smile as though he was winning.  It did not take him long to realize that he could not keep that pace up for 2.5 miles.

Once we caught up to him, he was so winded that he fell behind.  This now stirred my other son to speed far pass his brother.  Now I have one son hundreds of feet behind, the other, hundreds of feet ahead.  Suddenly, I am jogging all by myself, thus defeating the purpose of my invitation.  I just wanted to be with them.

The noise of six marching feet soon softened to the sound of my own steps; it was then I thought about my personal walk with God.  Like my two sons who turned the expedition into a competition, I suppose sometimes I do the same thing – I forget why I am on the journey.  Sometimes I get so far ahead of God that I get winded; other times I lag so far behind that I get discouraged.  Either way, I am missing out on the whole point of the walk –spending time with Him.

I wonder how often God’s children leave Him “jogging” all by Himself? I wonder if we turn the whole experience into something that was never His intention.  I wonder how radically our life would change if instead of running in competition with our brothers and sisters, we started walking in communion with our Father.  God orders and designs our steps with the idea of keeping us in pace with Him, not ahead or behind.  And when our strides match the Father’s, they will also be in step with our siblings.

Me and my sons made it home together that day…but for 2.5 miles, we couldn’t get in sync.  Don’t wait to get acquainted with God in heaven, walk with Him now.  Know Him today.