When we watch old westerns, we notice there was a distinct way of doing things. For starters, running water wasn’t always available. Combined with a belief that one shouldn’t shower often, and you had non-rosy-smelling citizens. People had a unique look. Men were often bearded, dirty, and ugly followed by well-dressed, clean-cut guys with mustaches. Women, well, they had their fluffy dresses and wore bonnets of sorts. Men had a swagger in their walk. Probably from the weight of their holsters and them funny-looking, high-heeled boots. There were banks, a general store, and saloons.
In today’s world, we have our ways too. We have our ways of dressing, our behavioral ways, and of course, our unique walk. Growing up, we played around with our walking styles. Ray placed his left hand at waist-height in front of his buckle. He’d sway a bit left to right as his right hand slightly moved back and forth. We jitter-bopped, especially when we saw the girls from the block. Now and then we rubbed our nose and slightly bopped our head up once or twice as in saying, “Yo, what’s up?” and letting others know we were up to par. We walked like the rabbits in Peter Rabbit on their way to get even with Mr. McGregor. We made sure our hair was nicely combed, and we acted cool! We had our special handshakes and made sure we got noticed!
One day when I returned to NY for a visit, back in 2003, I was walking down an old neighborhood. In fact, it was where we played lots of basketball with “Ray the Best.” As I neared the corner, someone ran up behind me, placed his hands on my shoulders and leaped in front of me. It was Ray! I asked him how he knew it was me. He said, “It’s the walk, Sam, it’s the walk!” Just by that he identified me after my being gone for 8 years. Back in 2017, after hurricane Maria, I was working at the local high school. I was on the second floor just nearing the library, and going out of view from those below. I was walking with my knapsack on my back. I must’ve been jitter-bopping- my casual sway, cause suddenly the Principal below was yelling at me to “Get down here at once!” “No ones’ allowed upstairs!” The Assistant Principal asked him where the student was and when he pointed to me, she told him I was one of theirs! He said, “Well, I didn’t know, and with that left-to-right movement, I was sure he was a student carrying a knapsack.”
Yep, People can tell who we are by our walk! How are you walking these days? I’m not referring to your swagger, your sway, your jitter-bopping, or even your limp. Does your walk include the same crowds from back in the day? I;m not saying you have to dump your buddies, but are you walking the same old paths, doing the same old things that got you in trouble? Are your ways clean? Are you living according to your old days? Do people say, “Yep, that’s him/her all right. Same old, same old?” There’s a Spanish idiom that translates to, “Tell me who you walk with, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
God doesn’t care if we bop, swagger, walk stiffly with our hands at our sides, or if we rub our nose when we walk. It’s how we behave/act before Him that matters. The book of Ephesians 5:15, 16 says, “See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.”
Furthermore, we are “read” every day. The Apostle Paul said, “We’re open letters” (2Corinthians 3:2) allowing others to read our ways, customs, and our dealings. As someone once said, “You’re probably the only Bible some people will ever read.” One Bible character had a unique walk: “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). In his daily walks, Enoch preferred to walk closely with God. He skipped death as God took him (alive) to heaven. Our walk has to honor Him at all times. Heaven awaits us. God will call us there soon whether through death or the rapture, we’ll soon be walking, swaying, or bopping beside Him forevermore-and we won’t have to impress anyone. God Bless, Sam