A New Way to View Walking (Part One)

During my Denver days, I did a lot of walking. I started just as a college freshman going around campus to classes, chapel, the cafeteria or my favorite: basketball games on the weekends. Our campus was not that large—probably only a mere block of Lakewood, which is a suburb of Denver. Besides weekly off-campus ministry, I didn’t venture around much that first year…but it wasn’t like I was unfamiliar with Denver and surrounding areas. All the adventures Mom and I had during my radiation treatments in high school were refreshed very quickly.

The change began that summer before returning to CCU as a sophomore. I met God. GFGGG For the first time since diagnosis, I embraced the unanswered unknowns—and opening my heart was the first of small steps to bigger  change, and it changed everything.

I returned to campus feeling anew; not sure when it began, but I started walking the neighborhood behind campus. A few blocks up, past an elementary school, there was a grassy hill, surrounded by trees to set it apart from the houses. There was a play area for kids and a swing-set. I walked there quite often, just to swing.

I continued these walking neighborhood ventures the rest of my time that I lived on campus…even when I did move off and got an apartment with friends, I still went for lots of walks.

Looking back, it probably was not the smartest thing to wander around alone, even if I was careful. But I never felt alone because my times were spent talking with God. I have to say that I did most of the talking. But when I finally stopped and listened, I saw Him in nature. And even though He didn’t really speak to me at that time about things that I brought up in discussion, I saw now seven years later that I was seeing some more discussions reappear.

Even though today my walking is a bit different, when I feel someone’s hand help guide me or point me in a direction I need to go, I think back on these walks when I could feel God with me, even if it was just the breeze in my hair, the beauty of the spring flowers or crunching through the leaves in the fall. I cherish those walking memories and even though now I sit, I am still trying to see God from a different perspective and in our new discussions I have learned that He may not answer right away, I know He will answer and I am ready to listen.

Jars of Clay ~ Love Song for a Savior