In an earlier column, I wrote about going fishing with a couple of my grandsons, and what a great time we had. We had gone to a place we had gone a few years back and on the earlier trip I followed the route given me by another person -- after duly mapping it out with Google maps of course. It was the "scenic route" traveling winding roads through several small towns and mountains.
I had noticed when we were ready to leave to come home the last time, we were only a few miles from a road (much straighter, no mountains and the like) I had traveled many times over the years, so on this trip I had decided to follow the less "scenic" route both to the place we were going and planning on returning the same way since I was so familiar with the route.
On the way to the place we were going to stay we had kept our eyes open for places we might want to stop at on the way home, so after the fun time we had with family, we loaded up and headed home, confident we would be home (barring the usual stopping for yard sales, rock shops, feeding critters, lunch, etc. we had noticed on the way down) in good time as the route we were traveling was well known to me, having traveled it many times over the years.
As we traveled to our destination we had also noticed and talked about the changes that had gone on around the area and towns as we traveled. Schools that we had seen being built through various stages -- from just being started to finished and full of students, stores that were open that were now closed as well as new ones that weren't there at all the last time we traveled the road. The only constant that seemed to have not to have changed was the route, the road we were traveling.
On our way home we stopped at a rock shop where my wife fed a cute little deer (I took pictures of course), we ate a bite of lunch, hit the rest stops and the like, confident we would make it home in good time even with the stops since the route was straightforward and one we had traveled many times over the years.
Perhaps you noticed I kept mentioning how familiar the route we were traveling was to me? There is a reason for that. On our way home everything appeared to be going fine. As we came to where we were supposed to turn north from the westerly road we were on, there was some road construction, with all the attendant "orange barrels" routing traffic that mark such things. What wasn't immediately apparent was road signs I usually depended on for exits to take were no longer there.
I began to look for familiar landmarks that I knew were in the area, all the time trying to pay attention to the ever increasing traffic and before I knew it, my wife and I found ourselves in downtown Ft. Smith. In itself, this wasn't a problem. My being pretty familiar with the town, I knew at any time I could turn right on any cross town avenue to get back to the Interstate. What bothered me though was HOW did I end up where I was?
Thinking about it, I see application to our lives as Christians. We are traveling a well known road leading in a direction we know well, yet it seems we can easily lose our way if something disrupts the way we're used to doing it or something like the road signs changed or removed and it doesn't seem to matter how familiar we are with the road or how long we have traveled it!
For instance, if it were a criminal offense to own a Bible here as it is in many countries and the government confiscated all our Bibles (coming sooner than you think) do you know the road well enough to continue to travel it, or find your way back to it if "sidetracked" or "diverted" or even more important, be able to give proper directions to someone else?
Some last interesting thoughts -- I watched the next day on the news as the very streets we were driving in downtown Ft. Smith were flooded with water up to the doors on SUVs and pickup trucks. Are YOU really prepared for the coming flood? Do you REALLY know the road or just think you do? The Bible, in 1st Corinthians 10:12, warns us: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Better consider it.
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Editor's note: Charlie Newman is pastor of Avoca Christian Church. To contact him, e-mail [email protected], or write in care of The Times at [email protected] or P.O. Box 25, Pea Ridge, AR 72751.
Religion on 10/29/2014