A Step of.....

"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step" ~ C.S. Lewis

Driving down the street the other day I noticed a man at a crosswalk waiting for the light to change. I was waiting at the same light and I couldn't help but take notice of him. This man stood tall and deliberate with a purpose, a goal, as if he were headed to the most important place he would ever go. As I watched him, maybe a minute, I was able to gather several bits of information that while I can't say are all together true, gave me an accurate assessment of the kind of man I think he is. He was tall, in shape, happy, deliberate, careful, aware of his surroundings, confident and blind. Yes, he was blind and I would have never guessed had I not seen his walking stick. And I thought to myself how many times I had seen people just like him and felt pity, felt sorry, maybe even times when I felt nothing at all.

Sight is one of those common types of Grace that God gives to most of us, including me. And while I wasn't born with the most perfect of eyes, I have indeed been blessed with the ability to see, which is more than the man I saw on the street. The most simple of things for the sighted person are taken for granted hundreds if not thousands of times daily....and I am no exception to that. To put one step in front of the other and walk or perhaps to run is something so simple. The destination could be anywhere but the way we do it is the same. One foot, then the other and then repeat. Sounds simple but is it really?

I had the great pleasure of watching each of my three kids take their first steps. Each of them were different in their style but all the same in function. One step, then another and then repeat! And while watching them fall and stumble and run into things was at times very funny, it was the times when they hurt and ran into things or fell hard that was the most difficult. And one of the greatest acts of love and satisfaction as a Dad was to extend a finger, let them wrap that whole hand around it and walk together slowly with careful deliberation and care to choose a path free of obstacles or danger. One step at a time was never more safe for them then when being guided, cared for and instructed by Mom or Dad. But eventually the bitter-sweet reality of independence shows up and taking one step at a time simply turns into walking.

As a middle-aged man, yes that's right, middle-aged... In a great trial I was reminded by my own ability to walk and run and just how I put one foot in front of the other. I was reminded that it wasn't too often in life that I was deliberate in taking one step at a time, which in part, was why I was going through this trial to begin with. I had run when I should have walked...or more importantly, I should have slowed down, taken care to see what was in front of me and listened and learned from my surrounding. And there were times when I walked when I should have run...the times when those important or dangerous or pressing things should have been dealt with and were not. This is the type of lazy, take life for granted, there's always a tomorrow type of attitude. This is what led to the third and most difficult way of moving which in the end, though I didn't see it at the time was the most eye opening and humbling way to get to my final destination. God in His kindness to me had brought me to my knees and forced me to crawl...the place where it all started, the place I watched each of my kids outgrow not so long ago.

But here I was a grown man crawling on my knees and the only option was to get up and run, something I had done all my life or to sit there, cry out for help and let God teach me to take a step and another. And in that moment I could see His hand reached out to me and in His amazing Grace, He prompted me to take hold of it. And in the same way I remember taking my own children by the hand, I, too, was being led by the God of all creation, the Father who loves and chose me. But this was a perfect love, a perfect instruction, a perfect sense of safety...a safety that is incomparable to anything I could offer.

God showed me how to take a step...that type of faith that comes only from Him. I was often reminded in this time about Peter and the encounter with Jesus on the water.
"He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ~Matthew 14: 29-31

Here I was calling out to God like Peter and taking that first step was the most difficult. But just as Peter I, too, got scared and cried out again. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of me. And in doing so he began to show me how to take the next step and the next and the next.

In life there will always be obstacles, hazards, detours, hills, valleys, challenges and countless things that can get us off course. But the good news is that God in His amazing love will guide you with each step. He will make the path straight if with each step there is faith. And like Peter, who stepped out of the boat in faith, He will be there even in our times of doubt as long as we cry out.

For me, like the blind man I saw on the street, I have direction, confidence, a purpose and goal to take one step at a time to the most important place I will ever go. And there with me with each step and there waiting when I get there will be Jesus, the one in whom I trust, the one in whom I depend on, the one who holds my hand, the one who saved me, the one who guides me, the one who paved the way and the one who loves me more than any other....forever!