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, New York Times best-selling author, James Dodson, paints the experiences from a once-in-a-lifetime odyssey which he and his young son took together through some of the great cities and small towns of Europe.
At one bend in the road, with the pair having just finished a period of exploration in Great Britain and planning to head toward Holland—not his, but his son’s selection for their next destination—Jim 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 ill-will exhibited between would-be and should-be neighbors around the world. But they made the best of it along the roads stretched out before them—both old and new—which they encountered along the way.
Wherever the good road took them.
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 just ran on these past few weeks. It may be the road leading to the next opportunity in your life, or the next moment to be an encouraging and affirming part of the life of your child or a friend. A road to somewhere is always before us.
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 at sunrise services across the country and then around a dinner table to celebrate Easter together in a couple of weekends. It may be a road like the Emmaus road, traveled by two downcast men, running away from the tragedy they saw of Christ’s death—remembering Christ hanging on the cross—which took place in Jerusalem days before. Or upon hearing the good news of His resurrection, turning back onto the happier road they to tell the world that Christ is Risen.
“I was just pleased to keep on keeping on, wherever the good road took us.”
They’re all before us. Roads of every shape and size, bend and adventure.
Some old and familiar and comfortable. Some old and familiar and monotonous—beginning to look a lot like ruts. Some new ones, full of breathtaking scenery we’ve never seen before, yet with a bit of the unknown lurking around each bend causing our blood pressure to rise just a bit. Roads with twists and turns, detours, forks and side-streets—leaving us confused as to which way to go. And some roads with valleys and hills or—as my younger Granddaughter, Ellie Kate, calls them while flinging her hands high in the air in our car from her rear safety seat—roller coasters.
Upon reflection, we can recall roads with memories both fond and sad. Roads leaving scars as well as ones leaving brightly-colored ribbons. Roads which led to success and to failure. Roads which evoked fear and roads which demanded courage. Roads to places which may be destined to be our greatest achievements, and roads to what may be our greatest disappointments. And roads which led to dead-ends.
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. 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, above, will help us to decide which way to go:
“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 roads, the pathways—old or new—where you know God will honor your going. It may not be the exact one on which He wants you to travel—but as He smiles down upon the attempt of your heart to figure out where He wants you to go—He will travel with you.
He may eventually grind you around to another road He really wanted you on, or kick you down one road over another as you stand at a newly-found fork or bend in the road. But remember, if God can smile upon your choice as trying to honor Him, then Godly assurance and rest will be found in knowing that He is going with you—no matter which road you choose.
Facing a fork in the road? Trying to decide whether to follow a bend, or follow a path which seems to lead into a valley or up onto a mountaintop? Not sure whether the detour is the way you should go? Having a little trouble with some uncertainty around a bend of a new expanse before you, or feeling a little jostled by some unexpected twists and turns or some roller coaster-stretches upon which you are traveling?
“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, in each brand new day—just keep on keeping on, wherever the good road takes you.
And all the while knowing that He is going with you—today, tomorrow and every day for the rest of your life.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2011. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
