Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard
    Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard
    Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard
    Ebook135 pages2 hours

    Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard

    By Colin Benner

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    No one has learned how to walk without first falling. This book is a look at the life of Moses to see the role of failure in learning how to be a follower of God. It is a book for everyone who wants to learn more about walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

    Moses was a wonderful example of how God trained and used a very unique man. Despite his gifts and extraordinary start in life, his mistakes opened the doors for the Lord to teach him his most valuable life lessons.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherColin Benner
    Release dateAug 9, 2013
    ISBN9781301723812
    Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard
    Author

    Colin Benner

    Colin Benner, with his wife, partner and best friend Denise have pastored a wide variety of churches in 9 countries. His passions include worship, being a pastor/teacher, being a grandfather of two wonderful boys, listening to and playing jazz, baking bread, and writing.

    Related to Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard

    Related ebooks

    Self-Improvement For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Josh & Tara McCauley On A REDEMPTIVE Mission

      Sep 4, 2020

      Whilst his friends were out playing cops and robbers, a young Joshua would sit in the front row of church listening to the sermons of his dad (Rhema Church founder, Pastor Ray McCauley) blissfully unaware that one day he too would be standing behind

      10 min read

    • Article

      Allan & Janine Bagg

      Jun 24, 2022

      Allan & Janine Bagg
      9 min read

    • Article

      Reader Testimony

      Dec 31, 2021

      For as long as I can remember, I have had so-called symptoms of Bi-Polar mood disorder. I can also claim symptoms of PTSD. At risk of giving anything not of God any kind of recognition or sense of pride in itself, I hesitate to write too much about t

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Oct 2, 2020

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      8 min read

    • Article

      Max Lucado

      May 28, 2021

      Max Lucado
      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pastors Need A Firm BIBLICAL FOUNDATION

      Dec 30, 2019

      The Gospel is the most powerful force on this earth. The transformative power of the Cross changes lives around the world daily. If the Gospel is not changing hearts, then it is not the full Gospel that is being preached. In Africa today we see a num

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Apr 22, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 7, 2020

      Greetings in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In your July issue of JOY! you asked what we are grateful for. I’m grateful for the fact that Jesus Christ saved me and my family. My third born son suffered severe burns on his body, and my last b

      6 min read

    • Article

      How Should We Respond To Celebrities Coming To Christ?

      Dec 30, 2019

      If you’ve been following the news lately, you will have noticed a significant wave of celebrities who are turning to Christ. In what is referred to as a massive spiritual movement, the sinful city of Hollywood is turning more and more stars away from

      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 21, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Nov 27, 2020

      I I believe b that we are living in the end times as we read about in all the books of the Gospel and listen to what Jesus had said. He warned of pestilences and famines. I believe that Covid-19 is one of the pestilences, as well as all the locusts t

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Sep 23, 2022

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Apr 13, 2020

      I would like to congratulate Desiree Mansfield on her wonderful and insightful article in JOY’s Feb/Mar issue, “Are We Cursed Because Of Our Government’s Decision On Israel?” This is an article nearer the truth than most people will realise and sadly

      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 19, 2019

      Thank you for your wonderfully illustrated Biblical series of articles that you regularly publish. I find that I can’t concentrate like I used to, and love the short, precise, and factual articles. I have learnt so much from reading them. I was fasci

      7 min read

    • Article

      True Womanhood Has No Limitations

      Nov 29, 2017

      A Christian Science perspective: Understanding that everyone is valued and capable because we are the creation of one Father-Mother God breaks down barriers.

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Falling is Easy, Walking is Hard - Colin Benner

      Falling is Easy - Walking is Hard

      By Colin Benner

      Copyright @2013 Colin Benner

      Published by Colin Benner at Smashwords

      ~ ~ ~ ~

      Table of contents

      Chapter 1 - Falling is Easy – walking is hard 

      Chapter 2 - Displaced persons.com

      Chapter 3 - Building a Resume – one failure at a time

      Chapter 4 - Never trust a leader without a limp

      Chapter 5 - Learning how to walk hobbled

      Chapter 6 - Travelling together = 1 millions time the fun

      Chapter 7 - Surprise

      Chapter 8 - Engaging the Mystery

      Chapter 9 - Here am I, Send Aaron

      Chapter 10 - So What is it about Sticks

      Chapter 11- Following the cloud rather than having a map

      Chapter 12 - The end

      Prologue

      This book as been born out of a decade of teaching and writing on the life of Moses. His life has become a bit of an addiction as the more I have probed the more I have discovered new areas to explore.

      The theme of learning how to walk through falling was first expressed In a message in our church n England. My friend Ray Brampton, who is a physiotherapist (and a poet which is an interesting combination) gave me some insight into the mechanics of walking which was a huge aid in crafting the rest of the book.

      The book is also birthed from a lifetime of stumbling and realizing that falling does not make me a failure but simply a human learning how to walk.

      I am deeply indebted to my wife who has faithfully helped me to edit by painstakingly reading each chapter back to me. She has been a wonderful resource in also helping me t remember details of our life without my personal bias which skews my memory at times.

      Finishing this project at this time in my life, when as you learn, I have also been struggling with a rather nasty form of cancer, has been a wonderful and constant reminder of God's faithful care and provision despite the ,overwhelming difficulties that Moses faced.

      My prayer is that this will encourage you to think more about your personal pilgrimage and perhaps to also draw more deeply from the wonderful resource that the life of Moses brings to our ordinary lives as lifelong learners of the art of walking.

      I am completely indebted to my wife Denise who has joined me on this pilgrimage, heard me preach and talk endlessly about Moses for at least 12 years. Her assistance within this book has extremely valuable.

      The cover was designed by my daughter Shirah Bamber with the photography supplied by her talented husband Philip Bamber - http://philipbamber.co.uk/

      All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.  The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ 

      This book is dedicated with love to Denise Benner.

      ~ ~ ~ ~

      Chapter 1 - Falling is Easy – walking is hard.

      Table of Contents

      Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

      Winston Churchill¹

      The first person who ever asked me whether they were married or divorced in God's eyes was somewhat surprising. We were pastoring in a small city in Canada and were shopping in Port Huron Michigan on our day off. It was a small Christian book store and a young lady must have overheard enough of our conversations to guess that I was a pastor and approached me with her question. You just have to know that a question like that has a great story hiding behind it.

      The essence of the story as I recall it was something like this. She and her husband had been married for a number of years and were active Christians. I don’t know whether to call it the presenting problem or merely the critical straw; but, the only serious issue of which she spoke was their inability to get pregnant. That appeared to be the critical issue that, when added to the other tensions meant that they had separated and ultimately divorced. Shortly after the divorce, they randomly met and realized very quickly that they were still very much in love. In her words, they were divorced but did not mean it. One thing quickly led to another and they returned to her house and did what married couples often tend to do after a fight. The result of this reconciliation began to get their life complicated as she found that she was going to have a baby.

      Her church promptly responded by telling her she was an adulterous woman, sinning and therefore had to leave him. Hence her question to me -was she married or divorced in God’s eyes? And what could she do about her church that did not believe that divorced women could ever remarry?

      My advice, and it might have been prompted by a strong desire to become anonymous again and enjoy my day off, was that they should get remarried in a civil ceremony -preferably that day. The next thing that they should do was to change churches and never tell the new church about their situation. Now that I am older and hopefully a little wiser, I would have given different advice. I would have suggested that they find a new church where they would be supported in the reality of their situation. I would have still said get married within the afternoon.

      As a follower of Jesus, there have been a number of things that I have seen develop as themes in so many lives through the years. Some of these are the normality of failure, the commonality of the curse of shame, and the reality of how God restores and re-commissions people in the process of learning how to walk with Him.

      Walking has been described as being a form of controlled falling. Every time you take a step, you lean forward and fall slightly, and are caught by your outstretched foot. If you failed to put your foot forward, you would fall flat on your face.  You know this already because all of us in our infancy or perhaps later have done that. After your foot touches the ground, your body’s weight is transferred to it and your knee bends to absorb the shock. The front leg then begins to lift the body and sends it forward as the rear leg swings up to catch you again, and the cycle repeats itself.

      The adventure of following Jesus is in many ways a walk that could also be described as a form of controlled falling. It includes both the exhilaration of standing and progressing forward with balance and poise, and the reality of picking our selves up from the ground.

      It is fitting that the early followers of Jesus were called those on the way. The notion of pilgrimage has always been a vital part of the understanding of the Christian life.  Eugene Peterson has an excellent book called Discipleship – A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. The subtitle is Discipleship in an Instant Society and it is drawn from the Psalms of Ascent, which are Psalms 120-134. These were the Psalms that were sung as the Israelites made their four trips to Jerusalem for the major feasts.  I think that there were many reasons for having some feasts being local and others necessitating a long journey. The one that is significant in this context is that it reminded the Jews that even though they were settled within the land, they could never forget that they had been pilgrims and that mentality should never leave them.  The book, and the psalms point to the necessity of seeing our lives as believers also in terms of a pilgrimage.

      From the life of Moses I can see that within this pilgrimage there is an ongoing emphasis both on the transformation and the destination. God is as much interested in getting His image and character revealed in us as He is involved in getting us into some particular ministry or location or even into heaven. In our agenda driven world, if we look at the process of transformation at all, it tends to be in the context similar to getting a degree. It might be tough and it might be necessary, but it is simply a means to an end.

      This is both a cynical view of education and an incorrect approach to discipleship.  I believe that much of the Bible is showing how God wants to see his character formed within his people. Or to put it another way, God’s view of salvation includes not only forgiving our sins; but also, setting us free from our sinful nature and replacing it with His nature.

      Let’s be honest. The Lord could have taken the children of Israel through the desert in considerably less than 40 years if that had been His only agenda. And likewise, He could instantly take us to heaven upon conversion and save us the despair of struggling here on earth.

      There are times when I wish that were the case but I realize that my hope, or more specifically my lack of hope, is simply not founded in scripture. God did not liberate Israel just to set up another country; but rather, to form a people who would represent Him on earth, and be part of the process of reconciling man back to God. Likewise God did not save me simply so that I could go to heaven. His salvation includes breaking the power of sin within my life and placing me within the community of believers so that together we could show his love and his kingdom to a broken world.

      If indeed pilgrimage is like a long walk in the same direction, it starts

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1