From time to time I get asked to preach in our local church; I have a message rattling around in my head at the moment & I thought I would post the bare bones of the idea in this forum for all of us to discuss thereby helping me to develop the topic. The topic that has got me going is the title of this post, i.e. courage to take the next step. Here is a bit of what I’ve been thinking.

I have said before that when it comes to forming our character, God is like a terrier dog with a bone, i.e. he just won’t let it go. Inside that issue, or perhaps a major part of that issue is that each & every one of us lives a life that is constantly being asked to take another step. For instance, very few people remain static, we are always growing, seeking to become more; we are always faced with the challenge to respond to circumstances that are beyond our control. New parents have to face the change in their sleep patterns & the way that their lives are structured; teenagers have to face the challenge of setting up the direction of their life, their career, their vocations; all of us have to face the challenge of our response to the constant barrage of information that keeps pounding on the door of our brains via all manner of mediums; even just this week, issues such as global warming, sexual expression & the war in Iraq have been prevalent in the news.
And all of us have things that happen in our very own day to day life that challenge a response out of us; problems that crop up, relationships that need maintaining, personal needs that need some sort of response, finances that never seem to work out.
Let’s add to this mix what it means to be a Christian & have all of these everyday issues both big & small, competing for our attention & response. I am a card carrying practiotioner of the belief that the first & last line of strategy within all of these moments is prayer. Prayer is like studying the game plan, listening to the coach, & giving yourself a moment where you can strategise.
The title of this article was however “Courage for the next step”; it is my belief that many people (christian or otherwise) really struggle when it comes to taking the next step. I believe that many people, myself included, have a habit of hiding under a wall of prayer when sometimes God is actually in front of us waiting for us to move; I believe that many people should actually be praying “Lord, give me the courage to move” rather than, “Lord, what do you want me to do!” The theory I am testing here is that the outworking of faith is actually in the steps that we take, & not necessarily the prayers that we pray.
There is a great line on the film “Shawshank redemption” where the main character (who has been wrongfully locked away for a crime he didn’t commit) in a moment of trial says to his mate, “get busy living, or get busy dying”. I think that his character was communicating what is essentially one of the great truths about human existence. I see this reflected in the lives of so many people who have inspired me; people like Jim Stallard, a quadraplegic who pushes his body & his mind to keep doing what he can to remain an active contributing human being. People like Maximillian Kolbe who was a prisoner in the Nazi death camps (google his name & read his story) and people like Mother Theresa who in the face of incredible odds loved the poor & the destitute; she didn’t wait for funding or for the right circumstances to present themselves. She got off her (Bleep) and got on with it. A young priest once asked asked her once to pray for clarity for himself, she replied that she wouldn’t (pray for clarity); she said “I have never had clarity but I have always asked God that I could trust him more. So this is what I will pray for you.
So; what are your thoughts; take a line & respond to it; add your own stories about people who embody the principle of courageous next steps; agree, disagree but login & have your say
Cheers
MM

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pm and is filed under uncategorised. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.