The Woman Who Walked Every Street

In 2019, a retired postal worker named Ruth Hadley set out to walk every single street in her hometown of Coventry, England. Not for exercise or charity — she simply wanted to know her city completely. She carried a battered A-to-Z map, marking each road in yellow highlighter as she completed it. It took her three years. Some streets she walked multiple times, getting lost, doubling back, finding her way again. Neighbors began recognizing her. Shop owners waved. Children called her "the walking lady." When a journalist asked why she kept going on cold mornings or when her knees ached, Ruth said, "Because I made a promise to myself, and a half-known city isn't really known at all."

The psalmist who penned Psalm 119 understood Ruth's obsession. "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord." This is not reluctant obedience or casual familiarity with God's Word. This is someone who wants to walk every street — who longs to know the whole counsel of the Almighty so thoroughly that no corner remains unexplored. "Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!"

Most of us treat Scripture like tourists glancing at a map. God invites us to be like Ruth — to lace up our shoes each morning, open the Book, and walk every street until we know the territory by heart. A half-known Word isn't really known at all.