Siddhārtha Gautama, Laozi, Jesus, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and almost every other wisdom teacher in-between said the same thing: human beings suffer from a dis-ease. Our lives are marked by suffering and grasping, anxiety and self-preoccupation, bondage and exile, blindness and convention, and feelings of unworthiness and insignificance. We are as Robert Kirkman defined: The Walking Dead. But all the great wisdom teachers also knew there was a cure. {Working on my Easter Sunday sermon}
This marks the 30th year I've been going to a gym. The very first one, besides my basement, was Heavy Metal Gym in Union Lake owned and operated by Rick Black. I've had many memberships in other gym since then: Lifter's (Fayetteville, NC), Iron City (Pontiac), Powerhouse, World's and Bally's (Waterford), Champions (Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor), Powerhouse, Ray's and the YMCA in Adrian to name the ones I can remember. I've learned a lot over the years. But I still learn new things that help me get bigger and stronger or leaner depending on what I'm training for. There are guys at my current gym, Jeff Willet's Powerhouse, who I pick up tips from (Rex, Dave, Josh, John and Jeff to name a few). Without them I wouldn't be working out as hard or as efficiently as I should. I consider myself a seasoned veteran of the gym, but I still need help in my fitness journey.
The same is true in my spiritual journey. I'm a pastor with a wall full of degrees, but without a spiritual director I wouldn't be all that I could be or anywhere close to what God desires me to be. A spiritual director helps us on the journey. Even the best of the best guides that lead expeditions up Mount Everest need Sherpas to help them on their journey. Just as a personal trainer can help you in the gym, a spiritual director can help you in your walk with God. None of us are to the point where we've arrived and no longer need assistance.
