Pressing Toward Mark

by John Parker

Visitors to San Antonio, Texas, enjoy the River Walk, a peaceful walkway bordering the river that meanders through the downtown area. Tourists enjoy the shops and restaurants and riding the slow moving boats for sight-seers. The River Walk is several feet below the level of the main streets of the city and provides a kind of oasis. Called the Paseo Del Rio, it was conceived by architect Robert H. H. Hugman, who opened the first

office on river level in 1941. His idea was to have a walk that was "slow and lazy" to contrast the busy life of above the river. Now it is one of the principal attractions of the city.

A "slow and lazy" walk can be relaxing as a place for brief retreat. The walk of a Christian, however, is not to be characterized that way. His life is to be one "straining toward what is ahead" (Philippians 3:13 NIV) like a runner in a race. Let's not be "slow and lazy," but active in our Christian service.

Phillippians 3:13 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

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