Imagine this: You and the Lord Jesus are walking
down
the beach
together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints
go
along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the
pace. But
your prints are a disorganized stream of zigzags,
starts,
stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns.
For
much of the way, it seems to go like this. But
gradually,
your footprints come more in line with the Lord's,
soon
paralleling His consistently.
You and Jesus are walking as true friends. This
seems
perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: your
footprints that once etched the sand next to the
Master's
are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His
larger
footprints is the small sandprint safely enclosed.
You and
Jesus are becoming one.
This goes on for many miles. But gradually you
notice
another change. The footprint inside the larger
footprint
seems to grow larger. Eventually it disappears
altogether.
There is only one set of footprints. They have
become
one. Again, this goes on for a long time. But then
something is frightening.
The second set of footprints is back and it looks
like
something is terribly wrong. There are zigzags all
over
the place. Stops. Starts. Deep gashes in the sand.
A
mess of prints. You're amazed and shocked. But this
is
the
end of your dream.
Now you speak, "Lord, I think I understand the first
scene
with the zigzags and stops and starts and so on. I
was a
new Christian, just learning. But you walked on
through
the storm and helped me learn to walk with you."
"That is correct."
"Yes, and when the smaller footprints were inside of
Yours,
then I was actually learning to
walk in Your steps. I followed You very closely."
"Very good. You have understood everything so far."
"Then the smaller footprints grew and eventually
filled in
with Yours. Could I actually have been growing so
much
that I was becoming that much like You?"
"Precisely."
"But I have a question, Lord. Did I regress so
terribly.
The footprints went back to two and this time it was
worse
than the first."
The Lord smiles, then laughs. "You didn't know?"
He says, "That's when we danced."
