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My goal this year is to walk 1,200 miles. It's not that impressive - 3.3 miles per day on average, just over an hour a day and some of it just comes from simply walking around the house. 

The other day I wanted to know about how many steps that would be so I did the math and came up with an answer...3 million. 

3 million...that's sounds like a lot. A million of anything is hard to make sense of, but 3 million? 

You know what the hardest one is? The first one of course, the first one every time I get up to walk. 

It's particularly hard when it's dark outside and I am just getting out of bed. It's hard when it's hot and sticky and miserable outside (which was the month of July.) Jack the Dog, who is along for many of these steps, and I have a particulary bad habit of stepping outside right before it is about to pour down raining. We've done this too many times to count as coincidence. I think he knows. 

3 million steps, one at a time, in the course of a year is a lot of steps. Each step starts with a decision to take it. Each step takes us further down the road. 

God calls us to step out in faith with Him over the course of a lifetime of steps, one by one, through thousands upon thousands of decisions and experiences, step by step in step with Jesus. Remember, He goes with us. He promised. Thousands upon thousands of steps through dark valleys and amazing summits, through walks through meadows and beside quiet streams, or at least that is how the Bible describes the activities of life we go through step by step with Jesus.

First steps can be scary, leading out to a path that we are not sure where it is going. It may mean meeting new people, trying new things, putting in some sacrifice, paying a price. (One of the joys of this present time is that more people are out walking and we have met more of our neighbors, Jack the Dog and I, and that has been wonderful, a small price to pay) 

This Fall we are asking you to take some big steps of faith with ROOTED our 10 week message series and church wide experience. 

Step 1 - Commit to Experiencing Worship for all 10 Weeks - online, in person or some combination. September 13 - November 15. 

Step 2 - Get a ROOTED Devotional and read daily each week. Link: ROOTED Book

Step 3 - Join a Small Group - online or in person. Both are offered. Link: Small Groups 

Step 4 - Be in Prayer - on your own and together in groups. Listen for what God says to you and respond in faith.

Step 5 - Take a Step of Faith through Service - you will have a chance to really see what God can do through you in Multiply 2.0 (more info to come.) 

Step 6 - Be Open to God's Leading - be prepared for God to lead you into new steps of obedience and freedom. 
 
Step 7 - Celebrate and Give Thanks - at the end we will take time to really celebrate what God has done in our lives.  

All it takes is a step, the first step, and then follow that step, step by step with Jesus. He wants to lead us into a deeper, fuller relationship with Him and give us the opportunity to send down deep roots and build our lives on Him.

Take a step today in faith and see where He leads. 

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

- Colossians 2:7