"Hey Shirker!"

The familiar sneer in his brother’s voice gave no hint of urgency. He did not even bother look around until he heard the words, “Pa wants you.”

With a jerk of the head the older brother made it clear he was to get moving...NOW; but even then he hesitated until told, “Never mind your chores. I’ll do what needs to be done while you waste your time talking to some old man.”

And, so, the boy gathered his staff and flask and took the first step on the first road of the rest of his life. I wonder: did David ever revisit that field long after his shepherding days ended? Did he ever look through the break in the stone wall through which he passed on that fateful afternoon when his father summoned him to meet the old prophet,Samuel?

Most of us have places to which we can return in our memories; places where we made a turn, took a step, walked an aisle, opened a door which turned out to be the beginning of where we are today. Some of those paths led to a series of wrong choices and dead ends. Others paths bring a smile when we see the satisfaction they have brought us. In either case, we face a danger of thinking too soon that we have come to the end of the journey.

I strongly urge a periodic halt, a deep breath and a deliberate realization that the next step we take is not the last step of the path but, rather, the first step of the rest of our life; and if that next step is taken in a trust relationship with Jesus Christ as the Savior of our souls and the champion of our destiny, we can know that the road, no matter how difficult, will lead to an eternity of adventure.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

                                                                                                  Jesus (John 10:27)