Proverbs 4:12
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

This week I attended a wonderful Christian writers’ conference in Orlando. I gladly left the wet, cold Arkansas fog to embrace 80 degree days in the Florida sunshine. After a long day of travel I was anxious to unpack the bags, adjust the room temperature, and wash the travel grime off my face. To settle my mind, and my stomach, I pulled on my Nikes, tied back my hair and decided to take a quick jog around the beautiful facility to learn the lay of the land. It was late in the evening when I landed, and the time difference left me hungry for lunch at 9:30 P.M. But I knew some late night exercise would settle me before bed. The only problem was the lack of light. With the sun long gone, I was jogging through a path lit with sporadic street lights and the dim moon. I had to turn on the flashlight of my phone and hold it out in front of me to ensure I didn’t stumble on the uneven path, or worse, surprise an alligator or snake slithering back home to the nearby swamps. Needless to say, I ran slowly and was never fully relaxed until I made it back to my room safely.
Scripture tells us that the wise man will not stumble when he runs. A wise man listens to his father’s instructions, he discerns right from wrong, and he walks in the well-lit path of virtue and character. It is not easy to always do the right thing; it is certainly more natural to let anger surface or to let jealousy breed. It may even seem momentarily satisfying to lash out at others to get ahead by scheming and conniving. But choosing the way of the foolish is similar to running in the dark— it’s unsteady. The runner who cheats or lies or lives by any code other than the word of God might as well be running a darkened path riddled with potholes and splayed with rocks. It is a race that guarantees no winner; it is a run that does not satisfy. Wisdom leads the runner to the light.