I did something today I haven't done in a long time - I walked to work! It's 4 miles door-to-door from our home to the church. I needed some exercise and the forecast called for temperatures that were a little cooler than they had been the previous several days, so I set out and left the truck in the driveway to hit the road with a backpack and my iPod. I put on some worshipful music and began my journey.
A funny thing (or a lot of them) happened on my way into work this morning. . .
Standing at a busy intersection's crosswalk waiting for the signal to change so I could cross, the sounds of the busy roadway competed with the soothing worship music in my ear. "How fast we live," I thought! It seems we're constantly racing from one thing to the next. Suddenly I felt a great joy in the pace of a walk to work in place of the daily grind of commuting to work.
My walk soon took me past subdivision neighborhoods and my heart was drawn to prayer. I imagined the people and families that call those houses home and I wondered what life was like for them. I envisioned the hopes, the dreams, and the disappointments of people who lived there. I saw marriages struggling to survive, someone rushing out the door on a Monday morning to face another day on the job, kids with lots of stuff in their lives - yet still bored. I saw a stay-at-home mom sitting at her kitchen table with a morning cup of coffee staring out the window to the backyard and thinking about her life and wondering, "Is there anything more to life than this?" Even though I didn't know the people who lived in those homes, I know people like them and I know they're loved deeply by the Father - so I prayed: for blessing upon them and that they would find their greatest hope and joy in knowing the Father.
About halfway through my journey I came upon a fast-moving irrigation canal. Surrounded by dry, parched ground that is so characteristic of the high desert in mid-Summer, the Lord whispered in my ear, "I am the Living Water, the one who drinks of me will never thirst again." As I grew hot and tired around mile three and that irrigation water looked more and more appealing, the words of the Psalmist came to mind, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps. 42:1-2) How often my heart and life are like that parched ground - dry and in need of refreshment.
When I rounded the corner and headed down the homestretch my body began to complain all the more. "This is crazy," I mused, "it's only a 4 mile walk - Big Deal!" Yet, as my once lively step slowed somewhat my thoughts turned to the women and children of the developing world who daily walk that far and farther with jugs full of water on their head just so that they can have a small amount of clean drinking/cooking water. It seems we have it sooooo good in this land of ours'. We have much to be thankful for. Jesus reminds us, "anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward." (Mark 9:41) "How can we," I wondered, "bring more cups of water (spiritually and physically) to people who are thirsty in Meridian and beyond?"
Finally, I arrived and boy was I glad to be at my destination. One day, how amazing and fantastic it will be to arrive "home" in the presence of the Lord!!!! I look forward to that day with a deep longing! How 'bout you?
Well, those are just a few thoughts from my walk of worship and prayer on the way into work this morning.
Have you ever wondered about some of these things?
- How fast you're living - what would it take to bring some greater sanity to your schedule?
- The people who live around you - maybe the next time you take a walk in your neighborhood you could make it a prayer walk for your neighbors
- The state of your spirit - are you "dry" and "parched" or "well-watered?" Is Jesus your "Living Water?"
- The needs of others - especially those who are struggling. What are you/we doing to serve the needs of people around us? Because, isn't life more than just what "I want" or what "I need?"
Blessings,
David
