I grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The wintery landscape there was breathtaking as was the fresh mountain air. Walking through the snow was somewhat hard, especially if you were a five-year-old boy.
I remember one time my family hiked to our cabin in the month of January to make sure the roof was holding. The year before five feet of snow had caved it in and we had to replace it.
I knew the way so I was allowed to hike ahead as long as I kept my family in sight. The snow continued to get deeper and deeper. Every time I lifted up my leg to take another step it would seem to get stuck and I’d have to pry it loose, then fall down in the process.
Finally, my parents caught up with me.
“Can one of you carry me?” I panted. I knew the answer. My dad had my four-year-old sister in his arms and my mom had my two-year-old brother in hers. But I was exhausted and needed some help.
“Ronnie, your trouble is you’re out front here trying to break trail. Why don’t you follow in my tracks,” suggested my dad.
Being the Leader
I liked being the leader, but maybe dad’s idea would make the trip easier. I got behind him and began stepping in his tracks. But his steps were quite a bit farther apart than mine.
“Don’t take such big steps!” I urged my dad. He adjusted his stride and it helped a great deal. However, from time to time I would stumble trying to make it to the next boot track.
“Whoah!” I shouted as I fell headlong into a drift. Dad stopped and helped me get back up so we could continue the journey. I fell several times on the way to the cabin, but I always got back up and Dad was always there to help.
Our Christian walk is a lot like that. We want to be the leader, in fact sometimes we’d like to just go it alone, however, that’s when we get in trouble. We need to let God lead.
We need to follow in His footsteps. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re never going to have problems because we will. There will be things that will trip us up, but God will be there to help us when we fall. And when He extends His helping hand we need to allow Him to help us up. With God’s help we can make it through this life and eventually reach our heavenly home.
“For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. … But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who… will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:18-21).
