One of the most challenging times is at the beginning of any project. The project could be seemingly insignificant. The project could be great importance. However the most important time is it the beginning. As the saying goes one great trip is starting with one small step.

The person would’ve walked the entire way across the United States over 3000 miles the first step would be the beginning. That probably goes without saying. However it is true and it is what begins everything in the midst of any project.

I’ve mentioned that I have an injury to my left calf. It’s some sort of a tear in the muscle fiber. It did not feel good when it happened. It still doesn’t feel great. However determining a plan of action and then taking those steps, one step and then another is what makes all the difference.

These steps include staying off it as much as possible. Icing it a few times today. Resting whenever I feel like I cannot go on. Eating high-protein meals. And today I included a workout. It was an upper body workout mostly biceps and back. However that step also had positive healing effects upon my lower body as well. There’re times when you take a step and it’s a step too far.

That was true for me over the weekend when I went for a walk with my dear wife and I couldn’t keep up with her unless I went too fast. Of course I went too fast. And I felt my muscle my calf ripping a little bit. The next day I could barely walk again. I could barely go up the stairs to church. Everything hurt again. Later that evening I looked at my leg and realized that my ankle and my foot had begun to swell. I realized that the arch of my foot was purple, bright purple. Blood had started to leak out of the vein and into my tissue. I hematoma had begun to form. I was not thrilled with this idea.

Three and half days later my left calf feels like it’s back to where it was before I took a walk. My calf still twinges but it’s no longer hurts. There is also a reduction in the size of the swelling and a reduction in the size of the hematoma. My body is healing itself. And I can’t tell you how glad I am to say that. In our lives we make decisions and we put 1 foot in front of the other. As we do so we make decisions of how we are going to change our lives.

Sometimes we take several steps forward and then we stop. Sometimes we take several steps forward and then several steps backwards. We’re never completely sure if a walk is too fast. That is until we actually take that walk. Will it heal or will it harm?

We don’t know until we’re in the situation. That was true for me over the weekend. That is also true for each one of us as we look into our lives and determine where we’re being called. Where is God putting forward a new direction? Where am I feeling, sensing that my gifts are going to be used in a new way? As we have questions that is how we determine the path forward. As we asked those questions start, to sense a new direction. Sometimes that new direction has some pain involved in it. Sometimes a new direction has several steps forward and then a few steps back. Reality is that’s okay.

The way in which we learn is by moving into a new direction, having made a new decision. Then reevaluating along the way. The title of this blog one step and then another indicative of my own healing process but more than that it’s indicative of every decision we make in our lives. How good it is to look at our decisions and realize that we might not be exactly where we want a book by modifying an action or decision we may well get there and quicker than we know.