A few weeks ago, I mentioned a preacher- writer I have recently discovered. His name is Eugene H. Peterson, and he has served Christ the King United Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland for 27 years.

He has a book on the Psalms of Ascents -- Psalms 120 - 134 which he titled, A LONG OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION. He got that phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche. This was Nietzsche's word: "The essential thing in heaven and earth is...that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; thereby, results, and is always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." (Beyond Good and Evil, translated, Helen Zimmern, London, 1908, Section 188, pp. 106-109).

What a powerful word picture: A long obedience in the same direction. I have thought of the picture as I …