I met Frankie Ruiz in the May 2018 issue of “Runner’s World” magazine. He’s the Chief Running Officer for Lifetime Fitness in Miami, and he was frustrated, when he ran by the crumbling sidewalks and drivers ignoring crosswalks. So he began calling the city to report those problems and encouraged the participants in his nine running clubs to notice their surroundings and reporting problems.

It caught my eye because I’ve been walking from my house to Bold Springs UMC, just shy of two miles from my house, and back home —doctor’s orders.

While I walked, I couldn’t help but notice the trash along the road. So I bought a picker-upper and started carrying a garbage bag. It filled up long before I finished my walk.

The bad news is, there is a never-ending supply of trash to pick up. The good news is I’m more likely to keep walking. In fact, I was walking three days a week, and I’ve started walking 5-6 days a week to keep up with the problem.

It’s the same old story — as old as creation — God created a perfect world and we keep “messing it up.”

I’d like to ask you to do two things: don’t throw your trash out by the highway, and if you walk, carry a “picker-upper” and a garbage bag. It’s a long-term commitment because it’s a never-ending problem — King David knew all about long term commitments and never-ending problems.

“All the people of Israel went to David at Hebron and said to him, ‘We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, even when Saul was still our king, you led the people of Israel in battle, and the Lord your God promised you that you would lead his people and be their ruler.’ So all the leaders of Israel came to King David at Hebron. He made a sacred alliance with them, they anointed him, and he became king of Israel, just as the Lord had promised through Samuel.” (1 Chronicles 11)

If you remember the story, Samuel anointed David as the successor to King Saul of Israel when David was a young boy tending his father’s sheep. The time from his anointing until he became king of Israel at Hebron was filled with adventure, danger and miracle stories. He killed Goliath with a slingshot.

He ran for his life from King Saul. There were several opportunities to kill King Saul, but David refused to take those shortcuts to the throne, choosing instead to wait for God’s timing. Sometimes the secret to life is simply making and keeping long-term commitments to do what is good and right and true.