I love the moving sidewalks at the airport.  Not only do I zip to my destination, but I have this sense of superiority as I blow past the people walking in the same direction I am.  “Eat my dust suckers!”  (Yeah, I know, real mature.)

But I really do wonder why they would choose to walk using just their own strength, when there is a greater source of power right there for them to access?

Hmmmm, sounds like an analogy is coming…

It seems to me like a moving sidewalk is a great metaphor for our spiritual walk with God.

Our Father in heaven invites us to come to Him.  But He doesn’t expect us to do that using JUST our own strength.  He places us on the moving sidewalk and says, “Come to Me…”

However, that does leave us with some options of how we will respond when we get on there.

If we eagerly desire more of God, we will use all of our might and run towards Him.  The faster we run, the closer we get.  But we are still not running alone.  We are running to Him with the strength He provides.  Just like zipping to your destination while on a moving sidewalk.

But we all know that while our desire is to run towards Him, there are many times when that run slows down.  Waaaay down.  Even to a crawl.  But because we are still on the moving sidewalk He’s placed us on – we’re still moving towards Him, and He’s still drawing us near.

And then comes the time when we trip and fall and land flat on our face.  We feel “done”and don’t want to walk anymore.  We just want to lie there.

That’s why I love this analogy.  The sidewalk of God is still drawing you near to Himself. Even if you’ve stopped moving towards Him, He has never stopped drawing you.

Let’s take it one step further – have you ever tried to run the opposite way on a moving sidewalk?  I know my kids have.  It was quite a sight to watch them try on the afternoon of our delayed flight. It didn’t matter how hard they ran the other way, the force of the sidewalk was always pulling them back.

Our Father in heaven has been drawing us to Himself from before the creation of the world.  He will never stop drawing us – because He will never stop loving us.