Trailblazer
By
Elin Henderson
“Righteousness
will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.”
Psalm
85:13 (NKJV)
When I was a little
girl living in New England, each winter my dad
would drag us out on the annual Christmas tree hunt. He wasn’t the type that
went in for those “lots” where the trees are all cut and come with a little
stand. Not Him! We would have to trek through the winter wonderland, deep into
the woods, to find the perfect tree. This often meant wading through deep
fields of snow. My dad would go first and blaze the trail and we would all
follow along. He did the main work and we just toddled along behind.
The trailblazer is the
one who does most of the work. He selects the path and prepares the way,
clearing out obstacles so that those who are following behind will not be
overwhelmed. There are always remaining obstacles, but the ones he leaves are
the ones he knows the followers can handle. The job of the follower is to
follow the lead and keep to the pathway that the trailblazer has marked out. If
the followers try to venture off on their own, they will find the going pretty
tough. However, if they are content to follow the trailblazer and keep stepping
where he steps, the journey becomes do-able.
In the same way that I
would stick right behind my dad as we wandered through the snow, stepping where
he stepped and keeping my eyes on him, so also I need stick right behind God,
the great Trailblazer of our lives. He knows what lies before us and will do
the hard work of deciding on the right path. Sometimes, there are bends in the
path where we might lose sight of Him, but He is always there, a few steps
ahead, making the way clear and beckoning us to follow.
So whether our life
journey takes us through the harshest wilderness, the thickest forests, the
deepest snowbanks, or the driest deserts, our Trailblazer always goes before us
making the path passable. Our job is to walk in His footsteps and stick
on His pathway!
GOING DEEPER:
1. How does knowing
that God is our Trailblazer help us as we come upon what we would perceive as
obstacles along the way? What about when the trail goes into areas we
would prefer to avoid?
FURTHER READING:
Oakwood’s
missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as
church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique,
Africa.
Elin is mother to thirteen-year-old Callie and ten-year-old Elias. They
are currently in America
on Home Assignment.
