2 Corinthians 5:6-7 “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

I enjoy a good long walk. I'll grab my portable CD player and head out the door. With my music blaring through the headphones and my feet aimlessly choosing a path, my mind wanders and my thoughts chase each other around, much like a puppy chasing it's tail. Those random walks are very enjoyable and because I have no immediate goals I find myself stopping frequently to admire the various items I run across – a dew speckled spiderweb, a nest full of chirping baby tweetie-birds, a vine growing up the side of an older house, the sun (or moon) shining through trees and the shadows that are created, and sometimes just to feel a nice breeze blowing across my face. In these walks I have no knowledge of where I am going, except that my final destination for that walk is home.

Now, my sharing this could lead into any number of devotional thoughts or homilies, but I just wanted to talk about walking. Sometimes walks are not so pleasant and sometimes they are, but no matter where you are or what type of walk you are taking, it is easily a metaphor for life. The above verse has been used numerous times to explain or expound on how we are to go about our daily life, to focus us onto a walk of faith rather than going by what we see or feel or experience. However I would like to focus on the one word in this above passage. Did you know that in 2 Corinthians chapter five, the word “we” is used 30 times? In this selected passage it is used 5 times! Why am I focusing on this little 2 letter word? Throughout this book, Paul primarily uses the word “we” to draw together, to teach and show the unity of believers.

Think about this! “We walk” does not mean just you and a few select others, it means you and a whole crowd! Imagine that you are walking into a stadium for a concert or a major ballgame. You walked into the stadium along with over tens of thousands of others – not just you and your friends! There are more people out there that are traveling the same path in life than you know, and each and every one of them is a brother or a sister in Christ. “We walk,”takes off from the simple“We are always of good courage” Paul began this section with.

“We are always of good courage?” Why is that? What is this about courage? I thought we were talking about faith? We are, but we are also talking about us believers as a whole. (Notice how I used the word “we” freely to refer to all of us?) Paul reminds us about how many of us there are! Is it easier to be brave and courageous by yourself or with other people? “We are always of good courage” tells us that there are whole heaps of other people out there with us, believing the same as you or I, going through the same trials as you or I, and trying to live for God the best they can, just like you or I. Like myself, like yourself, these people are here on this world, living by faith (“...the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen” – Hebrews 11:1) until the day that their, that our faith is proven out. So let us remember and rejoice that we are not alone and that we are together making our way to our true home with our Lord, our Savior, our God, our Beloved, our Father, our Jesus, and all our brothers ans sisters.

Blest be the dear uniting love
that will not let us part;
our bodies may far off remove,
we still are one in heart.

Joined in one spirit to our Head,
where he appoints we go,
and still in Jesus' footsteps tread,
and do his work below.