“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
– Matt. 28:19-20

I don’t know about you, but I seem to spend a good amount of time THINKING about whether I am “talking the talk or walking the walk.” On top of that I spend time thinking about how I should walk, or where, or to whom, and of course at which speed. Self-evaluation is good. But really, the question at the end of the day shouldn’t be whether I walked or talked, but how much walking I did. I mean really, how much credit do I give that student who walks in to class and says, “well, I thought about doing my homework” or “I made sure that my friend got his homework done.” We are not just to cheer on the people in the race, but to get into the race ourselves.

Last night I was watching American Idol. The show was nearly over and this rather peculiar person came in before the judges for an audition. In my opinion he was awful, but you know what? He had a different walk (and look, and voice, that’s for sure). But reflecting on that this morning: we each walk differently, at different speeds, with different tools. And because of that we are going to reach different peoples and influence different people. Maybe I need to spend less time thinking about how my walk looks.