Walking in footprints of the past.........and the present

So this is a picture of a very young Doug, at that famous walk in Hollywood, California, standing in the footprints of Eddie Murphy.  This was actually the very first "big" vacation that we ever took as a family.  We flew to California, stayed in LA, went to Disneyland and MGM Studios. On our first day we took an amazing whale watch boat trip and we saw whales!  We took a brief tour of Hollywood (can you believe that we were actually there on Academy Awards night and the traffic was terrible.  We had no idea and drove into the mess) Ken got stuck driving around while the kids and I looked at a small area of the names on the walkway.  I'm still glad we did this.  We completed this vacation by driving to San Diego and visited the beaches and the Zoo! One of the most memorable parts of this trip was our return home.  We heard that there was a late spring snow storm in Chicago and decided to try to get on an earlier flight.  When we actually got placed on an earlier flight we did the RUN through LAX to get to the gate on time.  We had four seats scattered across the plane, but we were thankful to get in at Ohare. It was one of the last flights to land before the storm hit.  The next morning we woke up to a thick snow everywhere.  It was hard to process going from warm, sunny and ocean to cold, snowy Chicago.   But now, on to the reason for this reminiscing.  Walking in the footprints.

Today I was thinking about the many, many people that have left footprints...and I am talking about SPIRITUAL footprints...that I have walked into in some way.  Certainly there are people in each of our families that have left imprints that we follow.  Then there are the well known names from the past - the greats - the spiritual giants.  They leave footprints that many, many people walk into.  And then there are those people who are walking with us, right now.  The book writers, the conference speakers, the evangelists....the well known in the Christian world.  Included in this list are the local pastors that reach so many every week.  And there are also those faithful everyday people, like the couple I blogged about yesterday, who volunteer their time and touch so many lives.

I've been stopped at that paragraph for some time.  Just thinking about all of the different people that have left an imprint that I have walked into.  I am having a hard time deciding which person I am going to focus on in this blog!  Yes, I think that this might become a bit of a series, as I work through this thought.  Actually, I am sure that if you all stop right now and think about this, you will be able to come up with your own lists.  And I didn't even include all of the Biblical people that I can't wait to meet!  I have realized how important people in our own family tree are in our spiritual walk.  They leave footprints that we walk in as well as sow spiritual seeds into us and our families.

This is really interesting.  I don't often feel so "stuck" as I am writing this blog.  For some reason this just seems so BIG!  Earlier today I was getting my eyes checked.  I was sitting in a dark room waiting for my pupils to dilate, and as I was praying, I SAW (in my spirit) a very clear row of footprints. At first I was thinking about the popular "footprints" on the sand picture and poem.  But this was very different.  The footprints were deep and solid.  They were like the prints in concrete that we saw in Hollywood.  So I am sure that there is a message here for me and for you!  For now, I think I will just spend some time meditating on the fact that these FOOT PRINTS are very real and Jesus has something to say to us in them.

Jesus, thank you for speaking to me today.  Holy Spirit, continue to show me and everyone reading this today, not only the footprints that are before us, but the footprints that we have already walked in.  Reveal to us, the people who left the footprints that we are walking in right now.  Help us to understand the importance of this message, and to consider the footprints that we are leaving as we walk out each day for you.  Amen