So I was hiking 🥾 a mountain near our house and there was another girl with her dog and they were hiking way faster in front of me as we hiked up the steep mountain! All of the sudden the girl slipped, fell to her bottom and started sliding down the mountain on the dirt and gravel. She was really embarrassed but quickly got control of the situation, got up and kept going.
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Buuuuuuut I remember looking at the girl and being surprised she had fallen. She was physically fit, obviously a lot more than me, there's NO WAY I'd be able to handle hiking WITH A DOG. She seemed an experienced hiker, she looked athletic, she'd probably hiked this trail a 100 times before, it just seemed like she wasn't really the falling down type.
WHY'D THE HIKER FALL???
As she walked away, I glanced back once more at her and noticed her shoes...AHA!!!
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Her shoes were WHY she had fallen down so badly!!! She wasn't wearing the proper shoes to hike the slippery dirt slopes of the Arizona mountains. She was just wearing regular old Nike sneakers, not hiking boots. It doesn't matter how many mountains you've hiked, IF your wearing the wrong shoes, eventually, YOU WILL SLIP!!!
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Spiritually speaking, the SAME concept applies in our own lives. It doesn't matter HOW LONG we've been living for God, if we're NOT wearing the right shoes, we're going to slip. I've seen it happen to people and I just look in shock, what happened? I thought they were so strong in the Lord! I thought they were experienced well in the things of God and living for him! I looked up to them spiritually as role model! How could they have slipped?
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But then you glance back a moment and you really look, and you see their spiritual hiking boots were replaced with just good old, comfortable sneakers! Somewhere along the way, without you ever seeing it, they stopped praying, they stopped reading their Bible, they stopped seeking wholeheartedly after the things of God.
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We can't do that. We don't have time to get comfortable in our walks with God. We have to put on those hiking boots everyday and prepare ourselves for the hike.
Pray, read your Bible, go to church and don't stop!!! And if you do slip, JUST GET UP , put the right shoes back on and keep hiking!!!
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11
We've GOT TO MAKE
THE HIKE TO HEAVEN!!!
♥Mary Frances :)
