 |
| Tony Hall and I entering |
 |
| downtown Flint... |
After Lunch at Halo Burger in Flint, MI, Tony and I started up the crowed street again. We walked on the West side of the road that eventually veered off to the left and became ML King Road through town.
Of all the places that we walked through on our Trek to Mackinaw; Flint seemed to be the most diverse! It wasn't necessarily the scenery or the people but the 'feel' of the place.
After we crossed the River there in town, we came to the intersection of ML King and Saginaw. We took ML King and headed North. I don't have any photos to share with you for the next couple of hours of walking simply because of the tension that we sensed while walking through the neighborhood.
It was like no one noticed us but everyone knew we were there! I haven't felt that sort of tension since the Islamic leadership organized a community protest at the Dearborn Public School Council Meeting where a notice was passed out to folks that were there to beware of Trey and Becky Hancock and Dearborn Assembly of God, back a few years ago !
So my usual customary practice of greeting folks as we walked along... by waving at people that came by or drove by us, was something that I continued to do but the response was much different. It was interesting to say the least! So I did not take the phone out of my pocket to shoot any photos. Sorry!
The farther we walked out of downtown the larger the homes were becoming. You could tell that at one time, this part of town was almost majestic! Some of the homes are good sized but now are fallen into disrepair! It is sad in some respects but in my heart I could sense some life was stirring! There seemed to be some flickers of hope in certain areas and then some blocks held an attitude or spirit that seemed contrary to the light. There were empty lots where houses used to be and older homes that just seemed to refuse to die!
Then all of the sudden around the 1400 block of ML King there were new houses that seem to have been built in the last few years or so! They were less than half the size than the ones closer to town but they were new and lively! The yards were neat and kept! Items around the homes seemed to have their designated places and you could tell the residence took pride in what they had! But all around them were empty lots and abandon houses. In comparison, these homes were like stubborn shoots of grass pushing their way up through concrete toward the sun! It was refreshing to see! It was encouraging!
There was one place where Tony and I stopped and rested for about 15 minutes to catch our breath and eat some snacks! This place was at West Baker Street and ML King. We walked over in the parking lot of what seemed like a party store and sat down on the curb and rested our feet and took some nourishment. We needed it at this point! Even here, the feeling was that 'no one was paying us any mind to us but that we were being watched!' So as soon as we caught our breath and rested our feet a bit, we were on our way again!
When we started out, we looked North, up the street where the road just seemed to 'go off into infinity' with houses and trees just bunching together into a point somewhere 'out there!' And as you walked along, it seemed to not move but that you were walking into some sort of traveler's hole that had no bottom or end to it! This feeling would come back several times during this trek as the road in front of us and behind us would seem to just disappear into a point over the horizon with no turns or points of reference that you could gauge your progress by! It would have been a sick feeling in our hearts, if not for knowing where we were on the map! That is a critical lesson in 'orientation!' Being able to read the map and track our progress was vital in maintaining our motivation to reach our destination! Hmmm? I wonder if life is really like that too? Personally, I gotta know that there is some sort of lesson here!
Following Jesus 'on the road of life' is probably the same sort of thing! Sometimes "Life" can be like a dark hole or a road that seems to go no where in particular!
But there is a destination and a purpose for traveling the road that we are all on! That road is to take you somewhere! It is to give you passage to the place that you are walking to. The road that Jesus has paved for you to walk on!
The road that we walked on was a road that had been traveled on by so many people, so many time before... we had even set foot on it! It seemed at times, that the road was chalked full of hope as we walked along and at other times it made us feel like we were walking through some murky swamp. And this swamp had hidden sink holes where 'gators' and 'snakes' lurked! Then there was those pesky mosquitoes that filled the air while 'gator/snakes' were lurking just under the surface, waiting for you to get close enough to them to latch on to you and pull you under!
But what ever the road contained, you can know that Jesus knows were you are at any given moment in time on that road and is not just standing by, waiting for you to haphazardly 'fall in' or 'take a wrong step' just so He will have some sort of sadistic satisfaction in saying... "I told you so!"
"I told you that you were a bad traveler!"
"I told you that you were not going to make it!"
"I told you that the devil was going to get you!"
"I told you that you were no good!"
"I told you that you were rebellious!"
"It told you that you would not make it!"
"I told you that you would fail!"
"I told you!" "I told you!" "See what you have done!"
NO! A million times NO! This is not Jesus' heart toward you at all! Now granted, this is how other so called 'gods' treat you! But Not Jesus! He says... "come to me... all of you who are weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest for your souls."
What a comparison! He said that "He would lead you in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake!"
Some of you need to hear that right now!
Some of you are in 'the swamp'; in 'the murk' and you are there because of your own doing! You have no one else to blame... but yourself! But you don't have to stay stuck there or remain disoriented in your heart of hearts! Jesus is ready to lead you out! He was not kidding when He said..."come to me!" I dare you! Ask Him for help! He will answer you! That is His heart toward you!
With my feet on the ground...
Simply Trey
