“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble.” 1 Corinthians 10:31-32

I was on it before I was in it, she got off it until I got through it! We were riding the ATV and my wife was all bundled up for the cold. She had insisted that, even though the weather was chilly, she wanted to go for a nice and easy ride through the mountains to see the foliage. A friend was leading the way and she made sure to tell him… NO ROUGH STUFF! It was going BEAUTIFULLY… for a while!

He was keeping to the main, mountain roads, when he veered off and hit what I might call a ‘dude trail.’ That’s one where the wife stays home while I ride alone with the crazy guys. That doesn’t make it a man only trail… because my daughter likes them too! “But dude!!!” You get the idea. Suddenly, I was on it and in it when she cried, “STOP!” And she got off it! It was hairy, but I eventually got through it!

My lovely wife was none too happy when she got back on the ATV. The rough trail got even rougher, and she had to command me to let her off a couple of times! After a while we got back to the main roads and she chided the guy who was leading the way. He said, “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t that bad when I rode it a few years ago!” All was forgiven and we continued on… having learned a thing or two.

I like to think I’m a pretty good driver. But that trail caught me by surprise! Going a little too fast to catch up, I didn’t see what was coming to form a good plan. Caught by surprise, I was in it before I really knew what to do. After that, it was mostly ‘winging it’ to get through it, while Katie waited… wanting NOTHING to do with IT! Which is kind of an example of how life simply goes sometimes.

God gives us His Word so that we can know Him better. That knowledge is a trail that, when followed, will get us closer to Him than where we were. But sometimes it takes us through situations that we don’t like, are ill prepared for, or simply just don’t want to go through. Sometimes he leads us to rough patches. Sometimes we land there because we’re following our own way.

Today’s verse reminds me that no matter WHAT I face, I can count on Him to get me through. Tough times help me learn the hard way, how to NOT make someone else stumble… AND how to help others out when they do. Are YOU Glorifying God in YOUR circumstances… no matter how difficult? Are YOU learning to lean on Him to keep out of, or get through the rough patches?