There are three types of dogs. Those that drag their masters along. Those that are dragged by their masters. And those that walk beside. And of the three, I know which one looks best. It’s an amusing sight to see a dog straining at the leash, full of impatience and gasping for breath. It’s a bemusing sight to see masters waiting for their dogs to sniff at every flower and to water every pole. But what a comely sight to see a dog trotting contently beside, keeping in touch and step.

One of the highest commendations in the Bible for a person, is to be described as one who walks with God. It was said of Enoch, then of Noah, and then of Abraham. Three men who did not try to drag God to do their will, nor men who were dragged by God against their will, but men who walked contently beside the God they loved. And the Book invites all Christians to do the same. In the language of the apostle, to walk worthy.

Enoch especially is impressive, for he walked with God three hundred years, by faith and not by sight, and with courage in the midst of godlessness, and right to the end. Not flagging after the first hundred years. Nor faltering after two hundred years and giving way to entitlement. But right to his final day on earth, before he, as those puritans loved to put it, changed his location but not his company.