Episode 159: November 19, 2023 - By The Riverside

Eternity Church PodCast

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. I love to walk dirt paths. Maybe because it feels like home. It feels good to walk the way we know so well. Once a year when I was a kid my family would leave our little coastal home on the second floor of the church in Malabo and go to Moka (pictured below), a little village high up the island’s small mountain range. At 4500 feet above sea level, I could feel my thin blood freezing in my veins! Surely the temperate 50 and 60 degree days weren’t sooo cold, but my tropical soul could hardly take it! Our family would pack up our warmest clothes and drive up the mountain to a little apartment with no electricity or running water. We would bring lots of D batteries for the cassette player and wood to keep us warm. At night we’d sit and sing by the fire, heavy layered. But during the days, I would venture out into the hills and fields, and walk the muddy trails between towering cane and rolling leafy greens. The movement kept me warm in my fleece jacket as my mind envisioned stories about myself, a Central African Tom Sawyer hot on the trail of adventure. There are times to follow Robert Frost on the path less taken, and then there are times that the well-known road before us is the way to go. In 1 John 5.1-12 the beloved disciple shows us the characteristics of a Christian. He points out the path before us of genuine faith for the followers of Jesus. John invites as we come near the end of our pilgrimage to walk the well-traveled path.