Sprinting with a walking God

Written by Pastor Russell Lackey

In the 1960s, a Japanese theologian, Kosuke Koyama, wrote a book, Three Mile an Hour God. In it, Koyama notices that the average speed that human beings walk is three miles per hour. This means that Jesus, who is God, walks at three miles per hour. God, who is love, walks at three miles per hour. This means that love has a speed and that speed is slow, gentle, and tender.

We live in a fast-paced world designed for speed. We design fast cars, fast internet, and fast lives. Our planners are jammed pack with activities to get the most out of every second. Even though God walks, we run. The problem of course is that when we run at nine miles per hour, and Jesus walks at three miles an hour, one wonders who is following whom?

For the church, we have been sprinting to get fully moved in for our dedication at the end of September. We have done a lot of work and yet there is still much more to accomplish: sign up readers for Sundays, organize ushering and hospitality, develop the children’s ministry, install the organ, move campus ministry, NEXUS, and the Moses Project into the church, all while continuing online worship and online giving. There is still a lot of work to do and we have been running since March.

Through all of our sprinting it is important to remember that Jesus, who created the universe, is a slow God — a God who takes time to love us. In the midst of all of our running, may we slow down to walk with the one who walks with us.

Trying to slow down,

Pastor Russ