I was taking a break from my bible reading this morning to go mail a letter, (I know, who still uses snail mail? I had a tougher time finding a mail box to put it in.) when I came across this sign a couple of blocks from my house.
This road here is important because it leads to a supermarket and two pharmacies, a gas station located in the same plaza along with some other stores. Getting around for me is easy because I don't drive and even still I know the area well enough not to get lost trying to find another way into the shopping center. (Hmm, I wonder how many cars took a wrong turn just trying to get from point A to B?)
For a brief moment I thought about all the roads, streets and highways we travel in a typical lifetime going to and from--anywhere. Can we, each individual, put a number on all the miles we transverse in the course of our lifetimes? Can we remember all the places such said roads have taken us? And also, was it where we wanted to go or did we get lost along the way and we wound up elsewhere?
Here is my plumb line or established fact:
God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. (It says so in Revelation 1:8)
How great would it be if all the roads in life that led us away from God were marked in such a manner? Yes, I agree.
Many of my life's experience have been spent in places these roads have taken me. Several times I found myself lost and confused not knowing whom to trust. Plus, when you don't know the area or people, the fear factor gets amped up a few notches. Or you, like Lot, are deceived by the surroundings and are soon partaking of them.
Let me backtrack a bit. God is all-knowing and Darryl is not. God knows all the things in life that will befall (wow, nothing from spell checker, did not know it really was a word) me and I do not. Hence, the roads I/we take. If only.
Truthfully, I wish some of the roads I have been on after becoming a Christian were marked 'closed'. The pain, heartache and separation would have been avoided. Is this all part of God's plan? Of course it is. Jesus traveled to many cities, taking different paths and Him knowing what was to happen gladly went down each and every road without hesitation. Why? If not for His obedience to God, Jesus very well may have walked past the town I was in and I would have missed out on the free gift of salvation. Jesus' life and the men and women who went with Him, was shaped by the roads they traveled and the people met along the way. So are the lives of you and I. Quite often we get somewhere or do something and say, "Why did I come here?"
That question has two minds of thought, but I will go with the mind that has been renewed. God has sent me here to do His will.
I should not be thinking of the hardships I may face, I should be thinking of the one facing hardships, who needs to know there is a rest, hope, peace and eternal life for them waiting in the person of Jesus Christ.
Now, when I come upon a road closed sign, I can see two messages. The first message is this, I have been there once and because of the Cross of Calvary, I don't have to go there again. My life is changed, my sins forgiven. The second message is this, someone on the other side of the sign, much like the road, is being worked on and restored to a new and better condition.
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