By: John Kerr
My Grandfather or Granda, as we called him, used to love to walk. As far as I know, he never learned to drive.
When he was much younger, he also used to cycle but as he got older, and as I really knew him, I know that he loved to walk.
He taught me the difference between a “donner” and a “walk.” There is quite a difference between them!
A donner happens when one simply heads out on an unspecified journey. That journey could simply be to the corner store or it could be across town, there are no parameters or, in fact, nothing to define what a donner is. On the other hand, a walk implies a certain route, a time frame and an implied purpose.
While, dear reader, if you have followed me this far, you might be wondering why I am belabouring the obvious!
You see, my Granda went for a donner one Saturday that took him from our house in Garrowhill, across the River Clyde to Cambuslang (east of Glasgow) and back again all while in his seventies and all under the heading of a “donner!” And if you might be concerned about him wearing out his shoes, my Granda was a cobbler.
I developed that love of walking from my Granda. One of my most memorable walks was from Balloch along the shore of Loch Lomond to a wee village called Luss where I camped with my dog and walked back again. At the behest of my cardiologist, I now walk about four kilometres almost every morning, which is a wonderful time to reflect on God, His Word and a new Challenge Central.
I love that the New Testament uses “walk” as a metaphor for the Christian life. Especially, one finds “walk” used in the book of Ephesians. The first three chapters of Paul’s epistle outline what God has done for us in the spiritual realm. The next three chapters define the believer’s walk. In other words, how should a Christian live? Here are 5 quick points to memorize:
1. Walk worthy (4:1)
2. Walk enlightened (4:17)
3. Walk in love (5:2)
4. Walk in purity (5:8)
5. Walk carefully (5:15)
On a lovely spring Sunday morning, at my Granda’s home in Scotland in 1976, I began my walk with Jesus. I had just become a Christian. For the first time in my life, I was going to church willingly and with excitement. I put on my only dress shirt and tie (I think it was my old high school tie) and walked up the road and up the hill to the kirk of Scotland only to find the door was locked!
I was 5 minutes late! I didn’t know the custom was to lock the doors promptly at 11.
That morning, I was a newborn baby. I had taken my first steps as a Christian. Yes, I fell flat, but I got up again and made sure that I was on time the next week.
I have since fallen, I have taken wrong turns, but the Christian life is a walk and not a donner! Don’t look for shortcuts or the easy way. Lace up those walking shoes and enjoy the walk. Don’t be content to donner, even if it takes you a long way, but know where you are going and go with purpose.
