Trailblazer

 A trailblazer is a pioneer and an innovator. Trailblazers also make new tracks through wild country. I think of those early pioneer trailblazers who settled Hutchinson county, TX where Brenda and I now make our home. They had to be tough to traverse the country to settle here. Traversing wide open spaces and navigating deep canyons they trudged ahead to find the place they would settle. Battling blazing hot summers and blizzard winters they built their homes. They were mostly alone and had to travel great distances just to get basic supplies. It would be a long time before even 100 people settled this area. 

Other trailblazers came later with the vision of starting churches and s school. It started with the dream in someone's heart. The dream spread to others and they collectively worked together sacrificing to see those dreams come true. Many are willing to follow once things are established. It takes a special breed of people to be trailblazers. Not everyone is cut out for such adventure and hardship. Those early primitive church services and school houses must have been something to behold. 

We enjoy the comforts of a community because of trailblazers. We are able to attend the worship of our choice because trailblazers went before us. Our children and grandchildren are afforded an education because trailblazers paved the way for public schools. Each generation of teachers invests in the lives of the next generation of trailblazers. Sitting in those little desks are young lives with impressionable minds like sponges. They will make significant contributions in the fields of healthcare, law enforcement, the judiciary, politics, technology, farming and ranching, education, and maybe missionaries. The potential is exciting. The advancements they will make as families on society are unlimited in scope. 

Fathers and mothers just trying to keep their heads above water right now raising kids and paying bills may miss the bigger picture. They are raising future trailblazers. They are weighed down with cleaning up messes, breaking up fights, hounding children to do their homework, and finding time to entertain them. You never know what will spark a child's interests. A book. A story. A movie. Parents are often blinded to those trailblazing moments when God plants His dream in those young hearts. 

It happened for me in a fifth grade creative writing class when we were assigned to write a short story. I fell in love with the craft of writing that day. Students hung on every word as I got to read my assignment to the class. I was hooked that you could move people with the words you write. At 12, I asked for a typewriter at Christmas. I wrote my first book 30 copied on a copy machine and bound with plastic spiraling. I trailblaze through helping others through writing. 

Trailblazers often go unnoticed. History does not always recognize them. Such people just followed their dreams. They worked hard to survive and do what they thought they were created to do. They did not seek applause or fame. They just did the work before them. Day in and day out. They lived and died without fanfare. Their trailblazing ways certainly made a difference. 

Maybe God puts a little trailblazing in all of us. In some way each of us leaves our mark long after we are gone. Maybe we break the cycle of dysfunction in our families. Maybe we spend our days helping others in need. Maybe we love and accept people where they are in life. Maybe we help others discover faith for themselves. Maybe we demonstrate work ethic to the younger generation. Let me challenge all of us to trailblaze and pioneer our God ordained destiny. To make life a little better for the next generation through our labor and sacrifice. I also exhort us to stop and offer up a thank you for those who did the same for us. Hopefully we'll leave the world a little better for future generations when we are gone.