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Over the last couple of weeks, two young men in my life, close friends of my youngest son and long-time family friends, have suffered significant injuries. First, an unexplained seizure on a blazing hot soccer field. Then, two days ago, another young man was kicked squarely in the face during a game, fracturing his jaw in several places among other damage. He is now embarking on multiple weeks of being unable to speak or to eat anything other than liquids.

Talk about setting high expectations, try this one on for size: “Abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22. Paul isn’t mincing words here. He is saying, quite literally, be perfect. And it is written as a command by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

A few posts ago, I wrote that “walking in the Spirit” or being “led by the Spirit” is like being connected to the locomotive of a train. The Spirit provides both the power and the direction. We just stay connected. When you are being “led by the Spirit,” there are no detours. Every moment, every step, is powerful, confident, and meaningful. If you are walking in the Spirit, even when your day would otherwise feel off track, you know you are perfectly on track because you are being pulled along by the Holy Spirit.

I realize sometimes I sound like a broken record. Always writing about our dependence on God for every breath and step we take, and the fight to root out remaining pride and self-sufficiency.

A poem based on Psalm 147