Hello!
Thanks for tuning in! I haven't written in a while but I am still here!
I think about The Walk quite often. The other day I went out after a dance to get a bite to eat and I met a couple of friends at the restaurant. We sat around and they inquired about my adventure. One friend asked me, "You must have had a lot of time to think. What did you learn?" When he asked me that, the following thought hit me. I said, "You know, I did have lots of time to think. But come to think of it, I didn't learn a darn thing from thinking a lot!" I don't know about you, but I can spend a lot of time thinking about things. I turn them all around in my mind, trying to understand and figure them out. But in reality I never actually figure some things out no matter how long I spend thinking about them. I'm talking about the things that just can't be figured out by our thinking. I do get answers though, but I believe that the answers are in the form of wisdom, and are gifts from God. I believe He gives me the answers when He sees that I am seriously seeking them. I can't take any credit for any of the wisdom that I may possess. There were things that I wrestled with all along the coast, and I did eventually get answers, but not from my own intelligence.
The Walk was marginally successful in terms of raising money for the Coder's children in Honduras. I'm sure that it is not over yet- we will see. However, before I left on this walk, I knew that it was much more than being all about raising money. I knew that it was to help build my own faith and courage. And that, it did! My faith and courage are not complete, but they are vastly stronger than they were before The Walk. The preparation for The Walk was a challenge in and of itself. The Walk itself was actually easier by comparison. I struggled with fear and doubt while in preparation. I didn't know if I was crazy or not, and I struggled with this. I felt Him compelling me to keep on getting ready, and so, while wrestling with my fears and doubts, I continued my preparations. I was apprehensive as I walked out my driveway. It was probably two weeks before I started to feel my doubts subside. I was not frightened for my own safety ever on The Walk. But I was concerned with what I was doing- was it right? You all might have seen that it was, but I personally struggled with it. I can see that this was an issue that belonged to me, and so it was "mine." Hence, The Walk. He gave me what I needed to do to start to conquer my own fears and doubts. See how that works? And amen, it did work! But now I notice something. As I have said before, faith and courage are like muscles- they need to be exercised to keep them in good shape. As soon as I let up, they start to atrophy- I can feel it. So what I learned from the preparation for The Walk, and from The Walk itself was this- do what is within my power to do, then start walking. God takes care of the rest. God can only steer a moving ship. When I don't exercise my faith by stepping out I tie God's hands. He can't provide if I don't give Him something to work with. I find that a great challenge I face is to start to worry about obstacles that may be up ahead. When I do that, I try to figure out how to deal with them from here, which is where I am right now. The trouble is, I can only deal with an obstacle when I come up against it, which is then. At that point God provides the way around if I trust Him. Otherwise I would be carrying everything that I think I may need to get around that obstacle and pretty soon I am carrying so much stuff that I can't even walk! So for me the answer is to keep moving and to trust that God is good................................the more I do this, the easier it gets.
So I hope that maybe you got something from my writing. I try to say "I" instead of "us" or "we" in my writing now because the things I come up against are my own struggles and my own issues. You have your own. They may be similar, they may not be. We love one another when we allow each other to learn his or her own lessons- our calling, I believe, is to love and encourage one another as we walk this journey together......
Love,
God bless,
Craig
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