A New Devotion - Walking Behind Coco

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

John 12:20-26

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus. “Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Walking Behind Coco

Every morning, I walk my little dog, Coco Chanel, around the town of Sligo, Pennsylvania. And generally, we follow one of two routes. You see, after we walk past the Methodist Church, we either keep going down the street, past the place where the schnauzer with the mohawk lives, turning only after we’ve gone by the guy with the big garden. And then we head for home. That’s route one. Or we turn at the church, walk past the house of a little shih tzu, and then we turn at the Post Office and walk down Bald Eagle Street, past the UK and the funeral home, back to our little white house. Now that’s our second route. And as we’re walking, I always give Coco the choice. Of course, I think her decision is often shaped by whether the schnauzer or shih tzu is out. Still the choice belongs to her. And I’ll be guided by her decision, even though route number two takes a little longer because the smells along Sligo’s main drag must be a whole lot more appealing, at least for a dog.

And I think that’s an awful lot like the challenge that Jesus offers in the passage we just read from John. You see, as we go about living our lives, we have all kinds of choices to make. And with each choice, we face some very different options and outcomes, some easy and positive while others are not so much. And just like I do with Coco, Jesus always lets us make our own decisions; he doesn’t force us to move in one direction or another. Of course, he also gives us all kinds of information that can help us know the course we should follow. Still, the ultimate choice is still ours. And since that’s the way it is, let’s choose the route that might offer the greatest glory to God and that might enable us to be most helpful to others. In other words, as Christians, let’s move forward as servants of the Father. And let’s be content to walk behind Jesus Christ as we go about our daily living.