KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME
One day, a man hired an experienced guide to lead him on a hike into the Swiss Alps. After many hours, they came to a high and remote mountain pass. To the man’s dismay, he saw the path had almost been washed out. What could he do? To the left was a sheer rock cliff, to his right, a precipice that dropped nearly 1000 ft. Looking down, he felt his head growing faint and his knees beginning to buckle. At that moment his guide shouted, "Do not look down or you are a dead man, keep your eyes on me, and where I put my feet, put yours there as well." The man did as he was instructed and soon he passed from danger to safety.
This is a good advice for the beginning of a new year. No one knows what lies ahead for any of us. We all have plans and dreams but the times and seasons of life are in God’s hands. Sooner or later we will come in a dangerous pass where the way ahead seems to be washed out. At that moment we can panic and fall into terrible trouble, or we can fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus and hear Him say, "In this world you will have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world. Follow me and I will make your paths straight."
(From a sermon by Ned Bartlebaugh, "Resolving to Know Christ")