Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, Godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.’”
Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT)
The words of a dear friend, from his book The Road to Somewhere, published in 2003, were floating through my thoughts as I sat here waiting for another day to stretch out before me. In his book, best-selling author, James Dodson, paints the experiences from a once-in-a-lifetime odyssey which he and his young son, Jack, took together through some of the great cities and small towns of Europe.
At one bend in the road, having just finished exploring Great Britain, with Holland in their sights—not his, but his son’s selection for their next destination—he penned these poignant words:
“I was just pleased to keep on keeping on, wherever the good road took us.”
Their original plans to circle the globe were curtailed considerably by the events of September 11, 2001, and the continuing unrest exhibited between would-be and should-be neighbors around the world. But they made the best of it along the roads which stretched out before them—both old and new—they encountered along the way.
Wherever the good road took them, they continued on.
It’s always there. The road before us, that is. It may be a notorious one like the Road to the Final Four which sixty-eight college basketball teams across the Nation stepped upon last week heading to the crowning of a national champion in New Orleans in a few weeks. It may be the road beginning the 65th year of life, which a dear friend in San Antonio stepped onto two days ago.
It may be a familiar one like the road to see your Grandchildren or them to see you, or roads both old and new taken as families gather to celebrate Easter together in a few weekends. It may be one like the Emmaus road recorded in scripture, traveled by two downcast men running away from a tragedy, or so they thought, as they remembered the image they had seen a few days before of Christ hanging on the cross. Or, then upon hearing of His resurrection from the tomb, it may be one like the road they raced back on to begin to tell the world that He was alive.
“I was just pleased to keep on keeping on, wherever the good road took us.”
They’re all before us. Roads of every shape, size, adventure, outcome and hope.
Some are old, familiar and comfortable. Some are becoming monotonous—beginning to be filled with too many familiar ruts. Some new ones are full of breathtaking scenery we’ve never seen before, yet with the unknown lurking around each bend causing our blood-pressure to rise just a bit. There are roads with twists and turns, detours, forks and side-streets—leaving us confused as to which way to go. And there are some roads with valleys and hills—or as my younger Granddaughter, Ellie Kate, calls them—roller coasters—while flinging her hands high in the air from her rear booster seat.
Roads we have traveled with memories both joyful and sad. Roads leaving scars as well as ones leaving brightly-colored ribbons. Roads which led to success and some to failure. Roads now stretching before us of uncertainty and doubt, evoking fear and nervousness—demanding a courage we dig deep to find with each step. And there are roads that will lead to dreams fulfilled. And roads to places destined to be our greatest accomplishments, and roads to what may become our greatest disappointments.
We’ve been on them all. And with the sunrise of each new day, we will have a choice and chance to journey on some of them again, or on new ones altogether. Each new day is positioned on the threshold of one of the roads which stretches before us. Upon which ones will we choose to journey?
Perhaps the words of Jeremiah will help us to decide…
“Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, Godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Notice Jeremiah didn’t mean “old” necessarily in terms of old or familiar as opposed to new and unfamiliar. Jeremiah’s admonition is to seek the ones—old or new—where you know God will honor where you are going, where He has equipped you to go, and where He can use you for His glory. It may not be the exact one on which He wants you to travel forever—but as He smiles down upon the attempt of your heart to travel where you think He wants you to go now—take comfort in knowing that He will travel with you.
He may eventually grind you around to another road, or kick you down one path instead of another as you stand—undecided—at a newly-found fork or bend in the road. But remember—Godly assurance, rest, strength and peace will be found in knowing that He is going with you.
Facing a fork the road? Trying to decide whether to follow a bend, or follow a path which seems to lead into a valley or toward a mountaintop? Not sure whether the detour you have come upon is the way you should go? Having a little trouble with some uncertainty up ahead, or feeling a little jostled by some unexpected twists and turns or roller coasters stretching out before you?
“Stop…look around. Ask for the…Godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.”
And then, as my good friend encouraged us to do, for today and in every brand new day—just “keep on keeping on, wherever the good road takes you.”
Knowing that God will be going with you.
Today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of your life.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2012. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
