red, yellow, green

In the past I have been a runner.  I'm trying to get back into the game, of late.  I have an app on my iPhone that helps me do so.  Some of you have this app or a similar one as well.  One of the cool features of this app is that it marks out my running path.  The faster I ran, the greener the path.  The places where I slowed down a bit are yellow and when I took a break and walked, it's flat out red.  You can see from my run on the left, I walked a fair amount!

What if we had an app that followed us all day long and color coded our goings, not according to speed but according to our meaningful interactions and kingdom-giving conversations with others?  What might that app look like in your life and mine.  The green marks might show where we were prayerful and conscious of what God is doing in our lives and relationships, perhaps even able to reach out to someone in a practical way.  That wouldn't mean that we had to necessarily share our own testimony (though it might) or that we had to invite someone to church (but we could have).  A strong green line would simply show that in whatever we were doing, we were aware that God was present and we were open to be used by him - whether that be in acts of kindness or mercy, or in words of faith spoken to others.

Yellow lines would be those places where we were just sort of moving along, going through the routine, neither being inappropriate or appropriate.  Just on cruise, perhaps; not living as intentionally and missionally as God hopes we will learn to live.

Red lines would be those places where we missed opportunities for God to work in and through us with others.  Maybe we were rude to someone or cut them off.  Perhaps we opted to look out for ourselves above the needs of another.  Or maybe we acted or spoke to someone in a way that ran contrary to the teaching of Scripture and our calling to be "salt and light" in the world.  We would all likely have those red lines at times, but my prayer is that they become fewer and fewer, shading more toward yellow and then a bright green as we grow in our relationships with God and in pursuit of his mission to love him with all that we are, love our neighbors as ourselves and make disciples of all nations.

Sometime today, pause and consider your pathway so far.  What lines would be on your app?  What color has your pathway been today as you have been going into the world?  Are you striving to live intentionally and missionally?  If not, it's not too late.  Spend some time in prayer, and step out again.  Go into all the world and make disciples of all peoples, and know that Christ is with you always, to the very end of the age (or your day)!  May all our paths burn greener and greener!  Amen.