Blaze a Trail

“The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full (of) day.”  Proverbs 4:18, NAS

 

Heading out of my little neighborhood this last week off to one of our district’s far corners, I drove right into the morning sun.  It was beautiful, one of those early fall, paint-the-entire-sky-orange sunrises.  I then made my turn and headed west.  It followed me the whole way, coming up more and more as I drove along.  The above verse from Proverbs that I had memorized years ago blessed me.

 

“Lead me in your righteousness, Lord.”

 

The sun was so bright I had to tilt my rearview mirror though.  It shone through the back window, bounced off the rearview mirror straight into the retinas of my eyes (OK, that was a little dramatic).  And then the verse from the 23^rd Psalm, “surely goodness and mercy will follow you,” pierced my heart.

 

What do I really want?  Do I want goodness and mercy to pave my way, keeping life and ministry more easy than hard, or do I want to leave goodness and mercy in my wake for the benefit of others?  The Psalmist realized it couldn’t get any better than for “goodness and mercy to follow” you and me.

 

I guess if push came to shove, I would choose blazing a trail over using one already paved.

 

When we put in the 12 by 12 foot video screen right in front of the monster-sized stained glass window of Jesus and the children for our new contemporary service, I said to myself, “If for no other reason, the new pastor will love me.”  As hard as life might ever get in ministry, God is using us to set up fruitful ministry for years to come.

 

Blaze some trail today.