Checking in. I’m not dead. Just lots going on in the workplace and on the homestead. Some of you know we are moving from Brooklyn to Long Island next week. It’s a big move for us. As for the details, I wouldn’t even know where to start.  All I will say (for now) is that God has truly lavished us with unimaginable kindness and generosity. So, I’m getting ready.  In recent weeks I’ve been working on my Lawng Island accent.  Brooklyn to Lawng Island feels pretty natural and I think the transition will be an easy one.

Today I’m up to my eyeballs in bubble wrap, packaging tape, and boxes while listening to, among other things, MacArthur’s sermon series on Hebrews. I just heard him share a story that made me stop and run to the computer to look-up.  A quick internet search confirms there are a few variations but the heart of the message is the same. The path we walk matters because other people are following.  MacArthur tells it within the context of feeling weary and fainthearted in the struggle against sin. Hebrews 12:13 says, “make straight paths for your feet“. One reason to persevere and stay on that “straight path” is that our lives are bound with other people. It’s easy to think sin is only a personal matter between ourselves and God. At some level that’s true, but it’s certainly not the whole of it.

This is the story of a drunkard who left home for the pub one day in the snow.  Little did he know someone was following.

“One day in Switzerland a gentleman who was traveling was climbing up one of those steep mountains, and as he went he had to cut steps in the frozen ice and snow; step by step he went up, cutting them rather carelessly, when all of a sudden he heard a little voice below him.  “Father,” it said, ‘mind you cut an easy path, because I am following you.’ “(1)

Get it? We do not live in a vacuum. Every decision we make, public or private, has implications that go beyond the immediate.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. (Hebrews 12:12-17)

So, that’s what I wanted to share.  Back to the boxes!  Admittedly, I’ve been in a season where, despite my desire to write, my best energies must be spent elsewhere.  That’s okay. I’ve learned to be content with the seasons of life and trust His providence.  Still, I hope to blog a little more in the future!  Tawk soon!

(1) The Church of England Temperance Chronicle, January 1882. London:  Wells Gardner & Co. Publishers. page 53 (Digitized Google Version).