“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” That statement is always a wonderful way to begin your day and our walk.

Are you ready to take a walk with me today? Well, I’m not sure I’m ready for this walk. This is the first walk we are going to take together, and I am not sure of the destination. In years gone by, it was always a Walk to Woodside Chapel, a program that was on the radio on Sunday mornings. But that was a spoken, not a written, walk.

It began over a road that had a covered bridge, and because it was a spoken program with sound effects, you heard our footsteps on the wooden planks.  Then you greeted a fierce Canadian goose named Charles who was rather aggressive and would make a huge honking uproar as you sought to exit or sometimes enter the bridge. Of course, we passed by Winifred the cow that would “moo” as we walked by, and then Mr. Harkness, the sexton, the kind caretaker of Woodside Chapel, would greet us. But where is our destination to be?

It will change over the weeks to come, of that I am sure, but I wish our destination to be not as important as our sharing some thoughts and lives and beliefs as we walk together. This is not a walk where “Ken” and his life are most important, but rather a walk where we are able to consider the wonderful gift we have of life with its blessings and its struggles.

On some of our walks, I am going to introduce you to many of the people that I have served as a pastor or who I have met on my journey in life for these many years. You see, as I have been a pastor for so long and where my health is no longer as strong as it used to be, I wish to tell you about so many of the brave “walkers of life” that I have met.

So many times I have looked out upon the congregation that I was serving and have seen the bravest people you could imagine who have struggled against difficult decisions and who have faced illness and separation, loss of precious members of their families and who still hold fast to an optimistic outlook upon life. They arise each and every day facing the trouble before them with fortitude and many times a smile. I love them, and I believe you will love them for they inspire me and I hope you to be a stronger and more believing person.

Now I am a pastor – so that means I hold fast to a Christian faith. Christianity for me is an inclusive faith, one that includes those who Jesus Christ included in His ministry, some of those who were frowned upon by society and those looked upon as sinners, but He loved them all and so should we.

If you are going to walk with me, don’t be surprised to find that the one we are walking with lived many years ago. On our walk, that person will be alive in our minds again.

Meeting those of the past and the present is only a part of our walk; we will come to branches in the road in the weeks to come and who knows what path we will take? Do you remember the poem by Robert Frost – The Road Less Taken? We will often take that less travelled road. That road might include a scripture lesson or a poem or a novel or a prayer. We will make that decision on our pathway.

Next Friday, you will meet the first person that will walk with us. I hope you will meet me that day so we might walk together and find a strength and encouragement from the examples of those who are alive now or who have lived in the past. I look forward not only to your walking with me, but also to building a new and meaningful friendship with you.

Until next Wednesday when you will meet with me and a new friend, this is Ken who is so pleased you have taken your first walk wit

“May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the other.”

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