Kassiquan

Walking Sticks

I love walking sticks; especially those that are uniquely made.  I made my first walking stick in the late 1970’s out of a used mop I had.  I took the mop off, cut down the handle to size and used black bicycle handlebar tape to wrap around the mop stick.  I attached a bicycle handle grip to the top and a rubber tip for chair legs on the bottom; a nice walking stick, which today is a bit shorter than I am.  I used to show this stick to my dog, LeRay as reminder to “behave.”  I still have this walking stick.

Just last week, I presented to a good friend John, my Ahijado (God Son) a walking stick which he requested I get for him during my “antique” browsing days with my Aunt.  John loves to go hiking but never had a walking stick to call his own.  John’s walking stick would make the second one purchased for someone other than myself during my antique browsing.  The other walking stick was purchased for my former supervisor, Kevin who retired three years ago.  Kevin enjoys hiking as well and I thought a walking stick would be the best gift for him; purchased while I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland and browsing antique stores in Berlin, Maryland.  Below is what I wrote to Kevin when I presented to him his walking stick.

It has been 18 plus years since our paths have crossed and I believe that by now, you know who I am.  I am taking the liberty to share this Biblical passage from:

1 John Chapter 1:4-7 which reads:

We write this to you, that your joy may be complete.  This then is the message which we heard from him (Christ) and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we claim we have fellowship with him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth: but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son purifies us from all offenses.

Saul of Tarsus, better known as St. Paul the Apostle wrote, “For in him (God) we live, and move and have our existence” (Acts 17:28).  These two passages speak of our existence, our life as a journey; A Walk.  And, our journeys of life are walks that cross the walks of life of others on their journeys of life.  Kevin, I am personally grateful, in fact I am blessed to know that our walks - our journeys of life have crossed.  And now, your journey is taking you down another road.  One of my favorite poems and Kevin, you know this well, The Road Not Taken, the last stanza:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference

I will close with this, most of us are familiar with Psalm 23, but verse 4 I wish to highlight, “your rod and your staff comfort me;”  the rod that disciplines and teaches; the staff that guides, leads and support.  Kevin, I know you like to hike.  I present this to you; the Proprietor told me that this is indigenous, originally hand crafted by a local resident and no two are alike.  Continue in YOUR WALK!

I own four unique walking sticks; three that I purchased for myself and one given to me by my Aunt.  The first was in Cold Spring, New York at an antique store.  My second was purchased at the same time I bought Kevin’s.  My third was in Paradise, Pennsylvania.  The three walking sticks I purchased were crafted branches by the locals in the areas.  But the fourth was God inspired, as nature’s hands uniquely crafted this walking stick.  This walking stick is from a branch of a tree on which a vine attached itself and wrapped around three times.  My grandfather cut off the branch, took away the vine and then crafted a handle to which he attached to the cut off end of the branch.  This branch is now a heavy cane bearing three ribbed sections that reminds me first of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and of the Shepherd’s Psalm.

Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd” has one of the best promising lines for me that states, “Thy Rod and thy Staff, they comfort me” (23:4)  In his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller provides the reader with insight to the meaning of the uses of the rod and staff.  Keller points out that the rod was used to protect the shepherd as well as discipline wayward sheep.  The rod was also used in examining and counting the sheep; a term “referred to as passing ‘under the rod’.”  The staff, usually with a crook (hook) on the end was used to draw sheep together; bring a newborn lamb to its mother without touching it; draw sheep individually for intimate examination; guide sheep gently onto or through a new path and using the crook to hook sheep that get tangled in thorny bushes and branches.

The New Testament records Jesus saying that he is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16).  Isaiah 53:6 reads that, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way...”  I am one of those sheep and am grateful for the Good Shepherd in my life.  According to the promises of Psalm 23 Jesus will take care of my needs; I will be led to still (peaceful) waters, I will lay down in green pastures; I will be “hooked” to walk in the right paths; I will always be protected and, should I stray and find myself tangled up (which I am so capable of doing) he will “hook” me free.

Many of us are familiar with Psalm 23; it is usually recited or written on funeral home cards given out to mourners in attendance.  Psalm 23 is just not for those who left life on earth.  Psalm 23 is for the living; it’s a promise of what can be for you; just believe.  The cane my Aunt handed down to me will always be a reminder of what “My Shepherd,” means to me as I walk.