Walking Along the Path

Early one Sunday morning I was walking down a path after completing a weekend seminar on reclaiming sexual integrity. The day was cold and it was early morning. Many of those who attended the seminar were still in bed for those and other reasons. As we were instructed on what to expect on this walk by those who organized this part of the seminar our hearts and bodies began to warm up. However, that brief sense of warmth was about to fade away as we were sent out two-by-two into the cold to begin our journey.
For me, little did I know it at the time, but this walk was the beginning of something much bigger than me. It was the day I committed to living my life as a sexually pure man. On that day, with the wind swirling cold around us, I had to make a decision about whether or not to continue down this "path".
As I walked along , I was reminded so often of the passage of Scripture in Hebrews 12:1-2.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
That morning the path had been clearly marked out for us. Brothers and sisters had gone out and walked the path that We were to follow. They knew what to expect while we did not. We had a decision to make.
As we stood pondering over our decision, more and more brothers and sisters lined up behind us until we were surrounded by what clearly became a "great cloud of witnesses." At that moment my brother and I decided to "throw off everything that was hindering us and whatever sin that was trying to entangle us" and we began to walk along the path.
As I said before the path was clearly marked out for us and as we walked to our first check point we were a little apprehensive about just what we would find upon arrival. Upon arrival we were welcomed to the start of the journey and encouraged to continue on, but more than that We were challenged in four different areas: to committ ourselves to running the race daily, walking in the light, running with others, and running with patience.
As we prayed over each of these New challenges and commitments, we poured out our hearts to God asking for his help. He provided me with this passage of Scripture from Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. (My paraphrase)
"Two-by-two were sent out and two-by-two we walked along encouraging each other to not only continue on the physical path, but the spiritual one as well."
As we walked along I noticed a startling revelation. At times along the path it was covered with leaves and it was soft going for our feet while at other times there were places e were the wind had blown away the leaves leaving the grey stone exposed leaving the path hard to tread upon. It was also during these times of rough going that other pathways began to appear and some of them appeared to be more appealing than the one we were following. However, as long as I stayed on the path "marked out for me " there were going to be times both of smoothness and roughness when things would tempt us to leave. I also noticed the the longer I walked I not only had this partner besides me, all along the "marked path" there were brothers and sisters ahead and behind me. I realized then that, just like those ahead of me cheered us on, my partner and I were responsible for cheering on those that were coming along behind us and that each one had the responsibility of cheering on the next party until we all completed the journey!
- Written by John Blasche 2010.

Thanks for sharing John. Some takeaways I got from it were:

A) The four different areas:
1) committing ourselves to running the race daily
2) walking in the light
3) running with others
4) and running with patience.

B) Just like those ahead of us cheered us on, we were responsible for cheering on those that were coming along behind us and that each one had the responsibility of cheering on the next party until we all completed the journey.

I feel these are very truly important components. Without them, God power is more limited in our lives.