Give careful thought to your route

"Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways." Proverbs 4:26 NIV

For the past four years, Lenny Maughan, a.k.a. the runner who makes elaborate artwork with his feet and a map, has turned his San Francisco running routes into works of art. His paths through the city are carefully chosen so that, viewed on a map, they form illustrations of everything from a simple heart shape to the Starship Enterprise. The tracking process is high-tech, but the whole thing starts with just a pen and paper. “When I was a kid everyone thought I’d be an artist when I grew up – I was always drawing things,” he said.

And you know, when it comes to carefully choosing paths for our feet to follow, how our running routes might be viewed on a map shouldn't be our biggest concern... following Jesus’ path should. In fact, the Bible is clear that you and I are to "give careful thought" to the paths our feet take and to "be steadfast" in all our ways. Put more simply, our greatest concern should always be to remove any and all obstacles from our lives that might interfere with our walk with the Lord so that we can follow His ways perfectly and not get tripped up or be tempted to veer off the path for any reason. 

So go ahead and plan those crazy running routes my friend. But be sure to give careful thought to going only where God leads you. After all, the elaborate artwork He leads us to make will always be better than anything we could have created on our own. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that there are many things that might cause us to wander off the straight and narrow path You have laid out before us. Help us to give careful thought to every decision we make that we might not be led off course and into sin. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!

Hymn of the Holy Spirit - Pat Barrett