Most nights I go for a walk in the neighborhood by myself. To the end of the street and back is exactly one mile.

And every night this week I have been startled by my shadow.

Headphones in or out, it doesn't matter. There is a point on the return route that always makes me jump.

It's not that I'm a particularly jumpy person. There is a catch about this shadow. 

There are three of them, you see. 

There is a point in the road where the street lights and the houselights work together just right to create the illusion that there are three of me. One shadow in front. One shadow behind. And one shadow walking beside me. The one to the side always gets me.  

I think it's pretty neat. Nothing too crazy, but it amuses me. 

It also reminds me that God is always there. All around. In front, behind, and right next to me. He is in my past, present and future. He knows what has been, what is, and what will be. The whole story. 

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." -Isaiah 43:2

He is always with us. Through the good and the bad. 

Shadows have a reputation of being kind of scary. But shadows don't exist unless there's light somewhere.

He is that source of light.

Everything else are just paper tigers.