"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."--Sheila Walsh
Driving down the road, only semi-listening to the radio, these words cut through my to-do list and planted themselves right in the center of my brain. It took me a moment to tune in to what I had heard, but as I rolled the words around in my head and let them drip onto my tongue, I realized the transforming potential of this small prayer. To begin each day with this, as Christian writer and speaker Sheila Walsh does, is a lifestyle choice that requires some major shuffling of priorities for most of us. To-do lists might be left undone. Schedules carved into cyberspace might be deleted. Our five-year plan might not be there five years from now. Our agendas must be relinquished for God's agenda; AND, we have to choose to give them up willingly!
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
Can you imagine what the first disciples must have thought when Jesus called to them? Did Peter have any idea as he was folding away his fishing nets the events to come? Peter, the rugged fisherman, who said "Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you." Could he have known that he would become "The Rock" on which Christ would build his church, the first of the chosen 12 to recognize Jesus as the Son of God? Could he have foreseen his spectacular denial of Jesus, chronicled throughout time in all four Gospels, or had a vision of his own bloody death on a cross? If he had, do you think he would have gone? Would you? Would I?
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
I think that this simple prayer embodies all we are to be as Christians. Our duty, our job, is to follow Christ. But look carefully at the words above--"Father, I DON'T KNOW where you are going...." To follow Christ, we have to be willing to take a leap of faith. We have to be willing to say, "I don't know" when it comes to the what's, when's and where's of our lives. We have to live on faith, that "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) We have to remember that Jesus did not walk the easy road of comfort and luxury. Jesus sought out those who were poor, those who were sick, those who were oppressed, those who were weary, those who were "untouchable", those who were "sinners". We have to remember that Jesus challenged the status quo. He pointed fingers at the institutions (the government and the church) which kept people in bondage, which diminished the value and worth of human beings created in God's image.
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
This is what I want my prayer be. This is what I want my life to be. I want this prayer to be my lifestyle choice. I want to say to God, "I'M GOING WITH YOU!!" wherever that may be. And even though the road may be difficult, I'm traveling with my Father. And there is nowhere else I want to be.
Blessings and Peace,
Sara
Driving down the road, only semi-listening to the radio, these words cut through my to-do list and planted themselves right in the center of my brain. It took me a moment to tune in to what I had heard, but as I rolled the words around in my head and let them drip onto my tongue, I realized the transforming potential of this small prayer. To begin each day with this, as Christian writer and speaker Sheila Walsh does, is a lifestyle choice that requires some major shuffling of priorities for most of us. To-do lists might be left undone. Schedules carved into cyberspace might be deleted. Our five-year plan might not be there five years from now. Our agendas must be relinquished for God's agenda; AND, we have to choose to give them up willingly!
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
Can you imagine what the first disciples must have thought when Jesus called to them? Did Peter have any idea as he was folding away his fishing nets the events to come? Peter, the rugged fisherman, who said "Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you." Could he have known that he would become "The Rock" on which Christ would build his church, the first of the chosen 12 to recognize Jesus as the Son of God? Could he have foreseen his spectacular denial of Jesus, chronicled throughout time in all four Gospels, or had a vision of his own bloody death on a cross? If he had, do you think he would have gone? Would you? Would I?
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
I think that this simple prayer embodies all we are to be as Christians. Our duty, our job, is to follow Christ. But look carefully at the words above--"Father, I DON'T KNOW where you are going...." To follow Christ, we have to be willing to take a leap of faith. We have to be willing to say, "I don't know" when it comes to the what's, when's and where's of our lives. We have to live on faith, that "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) We have to remember that Jesus did not walk the easy road of comfort and luxury. Jesus sought out those who were poor, those who were sick, those who were oppressed, those who were weary, those who were "untouchable", those who were "sinners". We have to remember that Jesus challenged the status quo. He pointed fingers at the institutions (the government and the church) which kept people in bondage, which diminished the value and worth of human beings created in God's image.
"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."
This is what I want my prayer be. This is what I want my life to be. I want this prayer to be my lifestyle choice. I want to say to God, "I'M GOING WITH YOU!!" wherever that may be. And even though the road may be difficult, I'm traveling with my Father. And there is nowhere else I want to be.
Blessings and Peace,
Sara
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