We fall down...

Several years ago, Bob Carlisle recorded a popular Christian song entitled, "We Fall Down."

In short, the message of the song is that we all fall down. Sinners and saints...none of us perfect by a long shot...we fall down. For some of us, it may seem like we fall down more than others. I don't know whether that's really true or not, but in the end, it doesn't matter how we fall, or how often we fall. What matters is that we keep getting up.

I recently read a story about a guy in Los Angeles who wanted to become a runner, but didn't enjoy the traditional process of running on a treadmill, or a track, or around the neighborhood. He had an idea that I like to call "destination running." He got a map of the area where he lives in L.A., and a protractor...and drew a circle of a one-mile radius around his home... Once he had a circle of distance determined, he located the stores and other places where he might run errands (grocery, dry cleaning, drug store, etc.)...and started running errands.

Yesterday I decide to run an errand to the grocery and pick up a few items. It was a beautiful day...warm, with just the slightest cool breeze...and sparkling clear, sunny skies. I put on a small backpack, my iPod, and headed for the store. It was a great little jog, until I reached the edge of the grocery store parking lot, and a jagged stretch of sidewalk jumped up and tripped me...I went down quickly, but a kind Samaritan driver immediately stopped their car and came over to check on me. Fortunately, I escaped with only a few scrapes.

The important part of the story isn't that I ran to the store...or even that I fell down. Falling happens in life...right? I mean, it just does. You might suppose that you can stay safely in your home and avoid falling down, but actually...that isn't true at all. We can, and we do...fall down...even when we do everything we know to do in order to stay safe.

The important part of the story is this: I got up. I dusted myself off, and ran across the parking lot and into the Tom Thumb grocery store...just as planned. Slightly bruised and just a tiny bit bloodied...I got up.

It's okay to fall down...it's part of the process...whether it's in your running, your relationships, your work...your spiritual life...in anything. Dust yourself off...put a band-aid on the sore spots, and keep on going.