Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Writings

The Beautiful, Perilous Journey

My socks are soggy, my shoes muddy.  My body drips from the constant drizzle.  A fog has settled in the valley.  I trudge through the wet trail, one step at a time, while on my left the river runs a little faster than usual. The green mountains tower over me on each side.  I get a glimpse of something.  My soul feels a tingling ever so slightly.

I imagine life as a one way trip through the valley.  If I one week earlier had fallen face first in the mud, it would mean nothing to me now.  I go onward.  I go forward.  There is no turning back.  I would have learned from my misstep and would no doubt walk more carefully as the ground under my feet got slippery.  Maybe I would have a flashback of that experience, but it would not paralyze me.   In the bottom of my heart I would know forward was the only option.  If I would have stood paralyzed with fear in the valley, or had refused to pick myself up from the mud, I would have wasted away.  My trip would have been over, my destination realized.  But if the mud is not to be our final destinations, we must pick ourselves up.  We must go onward.  We must go forward. 

As we go forward on our one way journey, the terrain constantly changes.  It is beautiful.  It is beautiful because we have never seen it before.  It is new.  It is exciting.  But it is also perilous.  What dangers wait around the next bend?  Am I ready for the challenge?  What if I slip in the mud again and don’t have the strength to stand up?  What if I can’t find water and I die of thirst?  And so, what a paradox it is that the most beautiful parts of our journey can seem to be the most perilous of all. 

I think of the one of the simplest Christian songs I have ever heard:

I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back.

I think our lives are a one way journey toward something.  If we have decided to follow Jesus, then we walk down that path with heaven as our final destination.  There will be many obstacles.  There will be much suffering.  There will be times we are so exhausted that we can barely take another step.  There will be times we fall face first in the mud.  But when the bad times happen, we leave them behind and do not give up.  We must keep going.

We look forward the path ahead, to where God is leading us.  It is filled with the beautiful, perilous unknown.  It is easy for some fear to take hold.  Maybe a part of us wants to turn around and return down the familiar path behind us.  But we place our trust in our God.  And as we press on, our souls sing: 
   
I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, no turning back.

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