Good morning on this Saturday, July 23rd. I read about a lady who found herself driving in a strange city during a blinding snowstorm. The snow was falling so fast a whiteout occurred making it difficult for her to stay on the road. To her relief she spotted a snowplow and decided to follow it. After she followed the plow for about an hour, the driver stopped plowing, approached her car, tapped on her window, and said, "Lady I'm now finished plowing the Kmart property and am heading to Wal-Mart, are you sure you want to continue following me?" She was moving in her car but was going nowhere, and definitely was not heading for her destination. Jesus commands us to follow Him, but also warns us about the blind following the blind. Sometimes in our Christian life we can spin our wheels like when our car is stuck in the snow; there is energy expended but no forward motion. It behooves us to check our forward progress periodically to see if we are going in the right direction, gaining ground, and getting where we want to go spiritually. Don't confuse movement with progress, they are not necessarily synonymous. Here are some important questions which we should ask ourselves from time to time to check on our progress.

(1) Am I becoming more Christ-like in my life and walk?

(2) Are the spiritual activities I am doing helping me to achieve Christ-likeness?

(3) What should I do, not do, or do more or less of, to make more spiritual progress?

(4) What do I have to do to ensure that I will do them?

May God help all of us to so live that we can say with the Apostle Paul, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

Tomorrow's sermon is another on Heaven and is entitled, The Place Prepared For You."

I sure hope you'll be there to hear it.

Mel Brown