Katie, Come This Way

There are certain people in my life that when they address me by name and give me a command, I've learned it's generally a good idea to listen to them. Even if what they're telling me doesn't really make sense, I still try to follow. Normally, their command is from God, whether they realize it or not.

This weekend, I was at a retreat and I was unsure how to get from the cafeteria to where our next meeting was to be held. I wandered over and asked people who should know. We all just had a guess, but Neal pointed about twelve or one o'clock (if we were the center of the clock, it was point to where twelve or one o'clock would be). He explained you go behind the next building and angle that way. He then pulled out the map and explained where we had to go. Ok, got a rough idea of the direction I'm headed, straight that way, dodge the buildings, maybe rent a helicopter.

A little while later, when we were leaving, all of my friends headed towards the door at one o'clock (the direction we were told to go), but Neal headed to nine o'clock. What? Ten minutes earlier he'd pointed straight ahead, said, "Go that way" and now he's telling me to go a different direction. I hesitated awkwardly unsure exactly where to go.

"Katie, come this way," I heard from behind me. Neal was standing there watching me try to decide where to go. I must have had a confused look on my face when I turned around because he quickly explained. "If they go out there, they'll have to weave around on the sidewalk. This way is a straight shot."

Wait a second. You just pointed "north" and now you're telling me going "west" to get "north" is a direction shot? This doesn't make sense. But he's one of those people I described earlier, so I followed.

Well, needless to say Neal was right. Our path was straighter than theirs and we got there sooner. (We also had better conversation along that way, but that's beside the point).

God does the same thing. He gives you a glimpse of where you need to be (go that way, dodge the buildings, maybe rent a helicopter), and then leads you in a totally different direction. Thinking your way is going to be better, you argue and try to blaze your own trail, only to eventually follow and realize He was right all along. (The conversation is better His way, too).

I'm sure Neal would like me to point out that he is not God. He could have very easily led me astray and gotten us lost. However, I have reason to believe that he would have (eventually) gotten us unlost, too. God, on the other hand, will not get you lost, but when you get yourself lost, He's there ready to do an excellent job of getting you unlost.

In Christ,
<>< Katie

"Jehovah said to mankind, 'Where are you?'" Genesis 3:9 (as told by Neal)

Lost in a one stop-light town?

Ok, so we weren't exactly lost. Nor did we know exactly where we were. We knew we were on the north side of the river and the east side of the highway, but that's about it.

A few weeks ago Laura and I decided we should be more physically active and since neither of us like to run we decided to go for walks. Most of our walks have been like, "Let's walk to the lake and walk back." Or "Let's walk to Ruth's and sit on her couch for two hours then walk back." One day we started walking and wound up at the coffee shop with smoothies... so much for being healthier. :-)

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a walk along the river. We contemplated walking to the river or driving. For the sake of time and to control the length of our walk we decided to drive. (haha!) After I got out of the class and she got off work at 2:30 we drove to the river and began to walk. It was really pretty and it made me feel like walking along the river at home (except there were sketchier people here than at home). We got to a certain point and Laura said, "I've never gone any further. Let's make our own trail!" We tried that for awhile but it wasn't working too well. In the middle of nowhere we found this gravel path and I thought it would be fun to follow it (please notice following the path was my only decision about the walk all day). We followed it for a long time before it branched off and the gravel road went one direction up a hill and a grass path went another direction up a steeper hill... Laura felt it would be smarter to follow the gravel path and she was right. They both met up at the top, and our walk continued. Eventually the gravel road ended, but it was not anywhere near where we expected it to. We wandered along the road for a long time still only have an slightly educated guess as to where we were. We refused to ask anyone for directions (mostly because there wasn't anyone to ask) as we continued walking. Around every curve of the road and at every "stop sign ahead" sign we expected to find the highway. However, the closer we got the more we realized it wasn't what we were anticipating. At one point, Laura looked over, "LOOK! I see a steeple! I know where we are! Unless, of course, there's more than one church." Good job, brilliant. We're in the Bible belt, there are eight churches every block. :-) Around four o'clock we finally found the highway we had been looking for and had to walk 1.6 miles back to get her car. We finally made it back to campus around 5:15!

Our walk wound up being two and half hours long with minimal stopping. We estimate it to be upwards of six miles! Even though our legs wanted to kill us at the end and our feet had disowned us, we still had a blast! However, if you are ever walking along the river: don't take the gravel path because it just leads further and further away from where you wanted to go. :-)

<>< Katie

"He looked up and said, "'I see people; they look like trees walking around.'"
Mark 8:24