Pathways.

You're on a tactical team going into Afghanistan to rescue trapped Americans.

You're an NFL quarterback.

You're a dancer in the New York Metropolitan Ballet Company.

You're a professional snowboarder.

You're a dog trainer.

You're seeking to be an advocate for trafficked women.

What are the pathways that you have been positioned in since you were born that have led you to the intersection of your current reality? Each seemingly insignificant, little detail was a preparation pathway to the realities of the current moment dodging bullets, avoiding a sack, gracefully leaping, cutting snow, taming fido, loving Maria.

Last week, our granddaughter was with Lea and I for 5 days. Her Mama and Papa were away seeking to Sabbath and rest together and we had the indescribable joy of 5 days with this beautiful, precious soul. Pointing to her ear as she heard the trains, pushing trains around a mismatched wooden track, carrying Doug Doug her stuffed dog everywhere she went, hearing her voice say "Mama" and "Bapa", hearing her voice call Lea her grandma name "Mem" over and over again for the first times. Pathways are being created NOW in her young 18 month old life that will impact her decades from now. What will be some of the major themes of her life later that are developing in these pathways RIGHT NOW?

If the pathways that can lead us to Afghanistan, the grid iron, the stage, the slopes, shaking paws and that lead us to the streets with compassion are real, why can't a spiritual pathway be just as real? We marvel at the path of someones life and every minute detail that led them to that consummating reality of greatness in their life heritage. I wonder why I don't marvel as much at someone in a pathway that is waiting for the day by day reviving of God's Spirit in the way they are relating and living daily life.

God's words give us such pathways. I wonder how much I intentionally celebrate that these pathways are just as real as any earthly reality. My friend TM keeps inviting me to think this way.

Here is one pathway. I celebrate that this can be real for you and I today. A real pathway today.

Death to Life. "God made us alive to Christ even when we were dead."

Hunger Increases. "Your words came and I ate them."

Time Given. "I love your word, I meditate on it all day long."

Understanding Grows. "I gain understanding from your word."

Love Expands. "Oh, how I love your word."

Greater Delight. "Your commands are my delight."

Power to Obey. "My heart is set on keeping Your decrees."

Drop to your knees in adoration! You used to be dead in your soul, but you have been made alive by the blood of Jesus!

Your appetite is changing. You are becoming increasingly hungry for Jesus and His Words. You gladly give your time to spend time with Jesus talking to Him and eating His Words slowly day by day. Over time you are learning. He is teaching you and you are changing and growing. And you love Him. You love Him more and more because He is so lovely. He is what you want more and more. You want to live your life following Him. Though you struggle a lot and often, you know that the trajectory of your life is this pathway of real life. The pathway of the passion of Jesus. It's what you want.

This is a pathway that leads somewhere just like the ones that lead to the Middle East and to the middle of the streets at night. In fact, God has made it so that this pathway impacts all these other pathways that we are on. This pathway can give courage in the dust of Afghanistan, joy as you compete in a game, beauty as you soar on the stage, exhilaration as you soar down the slope, wonder as you marvel at God's creation, and compassion as you invest your life in the hurting.

As I look at the face of our granddaughter on a canvas as I type here this morning, I wonder about her pathways, what they will be, how they will impact her life. As much as I want her life to be amazing in every way, I long more for this pathway of real life to be what is most real to her. And us.

Because it is what is real.

There's more.