We took a trip last Thursday up to McCall. We traveled north on Highway 95 through New Meadows, stopping at a little café we like along the way. Then we turned south on Highway 55 into McCall. There was a lot of snow along both routes, but there had not been an active storm for quite a while so the roads were clean.
We had a few reasons for going. It was nice to get away, if even for a day. McCall was hosting their winter carnival with all the ice and snow sculptures and we wanted to see them. Plus, we wanted to take Black Bart (our new car) on a long trip just to see how he did. He did fine, we, however, didn’t do quite as well.
Bob will be 79 next month, I turned 72 in December. Now, in today’s world, that’s not really that old, but it is a time where we are more cautious about things like falling, etc. Broken bones come more easily. We found McCall’s sidewalks were icy and dangerous in many places. We had a difficult time walking. A much younger man than Bob slipped on the ice and if Bob hadn’t reached out to steady him, he would have hit the concrete hard.
Growing older (or should I say maturing?) physically isn’t all that fun at times, but there’s not much we can do about it. We are going to “mature” whether we want to or not. Spiritual growth, however, is exactly the opposite. We won’t “mature” unless we work at it. Spiritual growth is deliberate.
Eph 4:15-16: “…we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. [emphasis mine NIV]
After Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4 that spiritual growth is deliberate, he goes on to tell us some of the things we need to do to grow. Read chapter 4 if you have a chance. Let’s begin talking about it tomorrow.
