CHAPTER 2 – ONE STEP AT A TIME
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34 NASB)
Slow down, you’re movin’ too fast
You’ve got to make the morning last
Paul Simon
ONE DAY AT A TIME
As I write this, I have believed in Jesus for 23,660 days, give or take a couple of dozen. I believed in Jesus and received him into my life in the spring when I was eight years old in the First Baptist Church in Delano, California. I walked down the aisle to receive Christ on a Sunday night after an invitation given by Dr. Floyd Patterson. “Trust and Obey,” a hymn written by John H. Sammis in 1887, was being sung. I “went forward” during the second verse:
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies
But His smile quickly drives it away
Not a doubt nor a fear, not a sigh nor a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey
Oh, trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey
On that night, a received a gift of eternal life from God. And thus began my spiritual journey. I attended church and went to Sunday school. I memorized verses and learned songs. I attended Vacation Bible School and earned tickets for Bible memory. (My prize still hangs above my computer in my recording studio.) I went to camps in the summer and retreats in the winter. I even led some of my schoolmates into relationships with Jesus. I sang in the choir and a few traveling folk groups. But something really clicked after high school.
At the age of 20, I began working on the staff of a church doing youth ministry in Sacramento, California. As part of that youth ministry, I was required to meet with the youth pastor every week. We met Monday morning at 6 A.M. at Party-Tyme Donuts on Fair Oaks Blvd. It was there I developed a love for maple bars, coffee (for the first time), and studying the Bible. Week after week, I experienced a new aspect of a spiritual walk with God. I felt joy and fulfillment. Some of the tasks I was asked to do were not easy. I had to prepare a “testimony” – a story about how I had met God and how I began a relationship with Him. I prepared one-minute, three-minute, and ten-minute versions. I learned how to approach someone “cold” and begin a conversation about God. I studied the Bible for the first time in my life. I didn’t just read it. I memorized tons of verses. I learned how to effectively share my faith. But I did not do all of this at once. I did it one day at a time. I have been doing these things for more than fifty years now… and each lesson I learned, I practiced it one day at a time.
A DEEPER WALK
As you grow in your faith day by day, you begin a deeper walk with God than you ever knew existed. When you wake up, the first thought on your mind is one of thanks for safety through the night and anticipation for the day to come. As you begin the day, you look for ways that God makes Himself real to you. As you encounter people, you look for opportunities to reflect God into their lives. As you relate to family or spouse, you do so on a different level than you have before – a deeper level.
You look at the world differently. God’s creation around you becomes brighter, vibrant. You find yourself thinking about God when you see a bird or a tree or a flower. You look at unknown people with different eyes – with Jesus’ eyes and how He cares for them. You pray for people you see that you don’t know. You bless people you don’t know. And day by day, you become the light shining on a hill that illuminates the way to God – without you even being aware of it.
The decisions you make are “God decisions.” Your journey with God starts to influence your thoughts, your speech, your attitudes, the way you spend your time, the things you purchase, and many other actions. Your life begins to be influenced by God to the point that you find yourself living in His will without even thinking about it. No regrets, no mistakes, no need for forgiveness. This journey was what you were created for, and this life, a spiritual life, is what God set before you.
NO ROOM FOR GUILT
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all peaches and cream. Along this journey you will find periods of time in which you feel like you are merely going through the motions. These doldrums are to be expected. They happen to everyone – no matter how “spiritual” they claim to be. Weeks and weeks of successful practice will take place and then, one day, the fire dies into an ember, and then the ember seems to fizzle out. The reasons could be situational; the causes might be hormonal. You may have too much on your plate to eat at God’s table. Or sometimes the source of the malaise is just plain laziness.
When it happens – and it will – do not feel guilty about it. No time for “Woe is me!” or blaming your past or looking for a root cause. It just happens. Do not beat yourself up over it. God did not call you to be guilty. He called you to be free, not guilty.
Pay attention to this truth: Everyone, at some time, is going to fail at something.
No one is perfect except God. You will have days when you are trying to do your best to carry out a spiritual practice and nothing seems to go right. Your mind wanders. Your schedule is too full. Your dog keeps barking for no reason. Whatever! Everyone fails. Join the crowd!
So, what do you do? Just keep moving by faith and know that God is continuing to work in your life even when it doesn’t feel like it.
Just keep moving. One step after another step. Trust and obey. Onward, forward!