straight path | Jesus, Light of the World

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not
John 1:4,5 (KJV)

I wake up and it is dark. I fall asleep and it is dark. From darkness to darkness I spend a moment in my life and it is a good day. Each day stands alone. There is a new beginning and a new end each day as I walk through my life in these increments. Looking backward and looking forward, constantly evaluating, upturning stones. It is my way. Smiles from the past and hopes for the future. I am always revisiting my first encounters. Wife, family, God. The encounters came in that order and it was as God planned. I see it. I see His footsteps when I look back into my past. They are as pronounced as ones that have just walked through fresh snow. A single path one foot and then the other. They are directional: one way forward and do not make an easy route in reverse. The path is straight.

This is how I see in retrospect: God walks a straight path in my life and I meander. Look at the snow. My steps are around a tree, over a log, hopping on rocks across a creek. Stopping and wasting a moment, or running to pass up several moments. I see my steps go in one direction, then they suddenly stop to reverse and try a new path. All the way I take twenty steps to God’s one. He is steady. I am always curiously peaking under rocks, poking a stick into a stream or swatting a bush. I remember these childlike attributes because they still are fresh in me and in some ways, even now as I smile, that it is who I am now. Frolicking. I like this direction.

I allow myself a childlike demeanor at times for I am a child in this eternal life. It makes me happy. It is not escape, it is just my life – then, now, and forever. God instills a joy in me and makes my heart His. I am in a perpetual state of joy. I rewind and see so many tears and angst, but the joy in me now overcomes. I am lighthearted now and it is refreshing. Found a frog, dallied a bit and fell behind God’s stride. Better catch up.

I like this life. There is so much to do. I make a choice each day when I awake. Each day stands alone and new decisions I must make. Or not. I may dangle my feet in the creek a bit more, tarry at the things that pique my curiosity. For all is well and I feel safe. Yes that is it! I feel secure because I see His footsteps. I even see into His eyes. How warm and inviting they are. This is life and I choose to find solace in His gait. I choose today that I will smile and laugh and find humor when I stumble. I am responsible – but I am a child. I refuse to grow up.

I met my wife and we found love, we had children. God knit a family together with a single thread of His love. Together my wife and I found Jesus. It was a natural choice. We already knew He was with us. Sometimes instead of drawing a circle in the dirt with a stick, round and round as this world, I look up and see His guardian eyes. They watch me. They command. They protect. I am at rest. Newtonian Laws work in my life. “For every action…” This is the world pushing and if I am not careful, I feel the effect. There is cause and effect. But I do not need to succumb to every little cause out there. I am a body at rest. Be gone the world and its travails for I am God’s child and I have joy. I have a stick and I put it to whimsical use. Tap, tap, tap on a rock. Away from the world and in God’s arms. I like it, this life.

There is cause and effect in the world. Some think with Existential minds and are mired in this thought. Running in circles and never looking up. I just drew that circle with my stick, remember? But I looked up and ran to catch up with the Lord. He is ever steady in His gait. There is life in Jesus – real life – I am assured as I see it and live it now. I must walk straight and I shall try. But most certainly there will be a distraction. It will not hold my attention long for I am at rest and will always have hope. Whimsical I walk. But to be sure: I am serious deep down. I appreciate that God gave me grace – a gift I did not deserve. I have it and now my heart is joyful. So, I grab my stick and continue on. Wading through the cool water of a stream I look up. There is God. His eyes are smiling at His child.

Rick

October 2, 1961 4 years old

oops, I mean…

August 17, 2012 with love

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
ECC 1

¹² Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. ¹⁴ Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

Heb 12:12-14

When I did not know the Lord – did not believe in the saving grace through a life following Jesus, I followed a crooked path. This course I followed was analogous to a rudder-less boat that is left to the mercy of the sea to find its path. I too, was at the mercy of an ego-filled life where personal whim and self-centered reason were my rudder. As Solomon states, “..what is crooked can not be made straight…” – by me. If we had this ability to find the straight path without God, Jesus then died in vain. However, we do not. We cry out for our salvation to God and He, whose grace we are covered with, straightens our path.

So, on this path I walk without distraction of what is on my left or right. My focus is forward to God. He is the beacon for the lost and straight is the way to Him. If we think back upon our lives we will see a milestone marking the period before Jesus and after Jesus. We will all see that before He came to us as we cried for help, our road was wide and crooked. He leads us on the path that is narrow and the distractions are not from Him but from a gnawing desire to revisit the world. The world offers that which blows away like the chaff of wheat. Do not succumb.

Wisdom comes through God’s word and we heed His instruction.

Look ahead. If you toil today, persevere for there is a Light at the end of the tunnel. We may not see it today, but it may be visible tomorrow. We have hope it will and we have trust walking forward through this day, we will come closer to God. Our goal is to be nearer to Him and today is a wonderful day in Christ Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life – we desire. Fear not for all is well in God’s guiding Light – our straight path and our beacon of hope.

Rick Stassi

October 18, 2011