Just like any parent, I have little games I play with my daughter throughout each day.  She's 17 months old now, and I admit that most of the silly things I do with her aren't for her enjoyment, they're for mine.  The most frequent game we play is as she is climbing the stairs (don't worry, she's never in any danger).  Often, as she is climbing the stairs, she stops to try to play with the bannister.  That's not safe, and as we told her to stop, I started adopting a very bad New York accent and yelling, "Hey, kid!  Whadda ya doin'?  Keep it moving!"  She squeals and laughs, but she also obeys.  Occasionally, she doesn't, and when that happens, I'm careful to remind her that even it's funny, the request is real.

You see, God often gives us His commandments in good times, but we are slow to listen when we're having fun.  I think it's wrong for believers to say that God only uses adversity to show us which way to walk.  I believe that God uses every moment of our lives to bring us into right relationship with him.  In addition, it occurs to me that the words God uses when prodding us aren't really that different from what I say to my daughter, "Keep it moving!"

When we encounter adversity, we often get the "deer in the headlights" syndrome.  We freeze at different points along the way, and in doing so, ignore the fact that we still haven't arrived anywhere.  Why do we stop in adversity so often? 

I read a poem once called Deer In Headlights by Jim Standish, and it came to mind as I thought about this:

Is he too stunned or stupid to understand
he doesn’t really have to stay there?

Or does he know full well
what he needs to do, is he wondering
why he can’t and what in the world
is the matter with him, does he reckon

            He might deserve to die, if he can’t even do
            a simple thing like jump aside.

I think that poem poses some important questions about why we do what we do when things go wrong.  So, here's the question: If we believe that the Word of God is true, but fail to live out that belief, how do we get to the point of living what we preach?  The Bible is clear on what we're supposed to do:

I know, I know.  You've already heard that one, right?  Well, let's decide that the next trouble darkens our doorstep, instead of stopping along the way and freezing our faces in a negative countenance, we'll listen to the voice of the Father, as he reminds us, "Keep it moving!"