My stomach hurts. My eyes are blurry. I know that in just a few short hours every muscle will ache.
Today is a big day for me.
In celebration of my 20th spiritual birthday I will walk 20 miles in an attempt to raise $20,000 to benefit four fantastic, Gospel-saturated ministries. (Read all the details here: GoFundMe.com/ErinDavis).
That all sounded so good when it was just a slick marketing campaign. But today, there is sacrifice required. I am up in the middle of the night, preparing to pry myself away from my sleeping family. The road ahead of me looks impossibly long. Failure is the only one up at this hour and he is staring me in the face.
But I will choose obedience. I will look past Failure to the One who sacrificed so much for me that this day looks like a cake walk.
You see I believe that this crazy idea is not mine, but God’s. I don’t naturally want to be wrung out. I’m not typically a good fundraiser. It’s not my bent to look to the interests of others. Sacrifice is not really my bag, baby.
But I want to do something, anything to declare the goodness of God. The weight of so much bad news and bickering and tension in the Body has become too heavy. I must throw it off somehow. I’m using the two tools I know will work: gratitude and sacrifice.
There will be no puffing up as I go. I’ve not convinced myself that I am a big deal. Instead I think of women like Asia Bibi, a mama of five sentenced to death for following Jesus. She gets something that I usually don’t. Jesus is worth everything we have. Today I am walking as much to pound that truth into my forgetful head as to pound the pavement to raise funds.
Jesus died for me. Walking 20 miles in return is almost nothing in comparison. But I cannot sit back and do nothing one more minute. I hope I raise a ton of money for good causes today. I hope I cross the finish line in one piece. I hope I manage to create a massive neon sign online that points to the goodness and faithfulness of God. But these are not things I can do on my own. God must do all of the heavy lifting. I’m just going to put one foot in front of the other, and let me tell you, that will preach. That is how the Lord has called us to obey. One step at a time. One day at a time. One opportunity at a time. Today, I want to send the message that every small act of obedience on my part has been matched by gobsmacking grace on God’s.
Follow my journey all day long on Twitter and Instagram: @Eringraffiti.
I’ll see you on the trail.