This week I had a customer, an elderly man in his seventies,
arrive at my workplace just a few minutes after opening. It was a frosty
morning, and he was riding a bicycle. With a smile on his face, and hands cold
to the touch, he told me that there was no bus service from Halifax to New
Glasgow the previous evening so he peddled for twelve hours in the dark, by the
light of the moon to get here. He came to purchase a heater for the boat he
lives on. Needless to say my coworkers and me were dumbfounded by this man’s
resolve. You see, the fact that there was no bus available for him did not
deter him from acquiring what was needed, and what was important to him. As I
watched him ride his bike, parcel in hand toward the bus station, I thought of
the strength he must have in his free spirit, and in his body. The need and
want, was greater than the challenge to get there.
I started to think of just how far any of us would go to
follow Christ. How far would you go? How far would I go, or what would I do to
have my children come to know God like I do? If it were as easy as walking a
hundred miles, I would. So, as life is what it is, that is not realistic.
Asking Jesus into our hearts is not a negotiated deal with God. He doesn’t work
that way. What He does do though, is accepts our invitation to come and live
within us and our homes. We all are given the gift of free will to simply ask
Him. Then as we walk with Him until we cannot walk any more, it is our hope
that our children see Christ in the way we live, both publicly and privately. I
will not bang my children, friends or family members over the head with a
Bible, yet, I will show them the reality of God in the way I live, treat
others, love my wife, and them. God will make a way, and that way is with His
gentle voice.
I may not peddle a bicycle, or even walk a hundred or a
thousand miles in order to have someone come to Christ. But, I will walk in my
Father God’s shadow, and when my last step is taken, my hope is that those I
have loved in my life time will look forward to sitting with me and Jesus, in a
mansion with many rooms. I thank Him for my good health, so I plan on walking
for a while yet. So, shall we take a walk?
Mike Shindruk
www.mastershandministry.blogspot.ca
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