Today, we had a fire drill at work.  The Archdale Building has sixteen floors, one of those being the basement and another the ground floor.  My office is on the eighth.  When that alarm went off, we had to walk down nine floors in a claustrophobic stairwell to the ground floor.  It took maybe five minutes, but it seemed a lot longer than that.

I began thinking about almost twelve years ago when 9/11 happened.  If it felt like forever walking down nine floors, I couldn’t imagine how walking down 85 floors felt.  In the dark.  In smoke.  With no idea of what had happened above.  It probably seemed like an eternity in hell.

What other long walks might you have experienced in your life?

Maybe a long walk for you was that blessed day when you walked down the aisle to greet your beloved.  Your anticipation might have made it seem like forever.  Maybe your long walk was down that hospital corridor to reach the room where a parent recovered after bypass surgery.  Or maybe that long walk was when you struggled with loneliness after a major life event thrust you into a situation you had to endure by yourself.

Regardless, you can’t go through life without taking at least one long walk, most likely one where you feel like you’re totally alone even with family and friends with you.  It’s quite possible no one is with you at all.  More than that, you may feel like it will never, ever end.  It may.  It may not.  I don’t know your situation.

What I do know is you don’t walk alone.  God is right there with you.  All you have to do is call out to Him.  More than that, Jesus endured many of the same things that we endure in today’s world.  Loneliness.  Rejection.  Pain.  He knows the emotions we go through and how we struggle to cope.  Because Jesus is God, His strength is endless and available to those who love Him and trust Him.  He is always there.

I don’t know about you, but on the long walks in my life, I’m glad to know who will always be at my side.