Going the Right Way
Have you ever found yourself going the wrong way on a one-way street or in the wrong lane of a divided highway? Or equally terrible, have you had someone come straight at you in your lane? If you have, you know what an almost surreal moment it is — it’s like your brain has trouble processing what your eyes are seeing.
A friend at St. Andrew recently told me about an experience while driving with her husband on I-80. Pulling into the passing lane to go around a truck, she saw a car coming right at them. Fortunately, there was time to slow down and get back behind the truck, and they watched in disbelief as the wrong-way driver flew past them in the opposite direction.
Their experience got me thinking about the challenge it can be to always go the right way, or reach the intended destination. If we’re going someplace unfamiliar, we may be given directions that are incorrect or incomplete, and we’ve all heard crazy stories of GPS systems directing people into a lake or to the edge of a cliff. Then add construction areas, especially with detours, weather problems, or being what might be kindly referred to as “directionally impaired”, and things can go awry quickly.
As we live our lives, following the “right way” can be a daunting task. We read in the Old Testament of King David’s struggles to follow God’s will, as he wrote in Psalm 25: “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” (v. 4) In Psalm 27, he further asked God, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path. . .” (v. 11).
Developing an understanding of what God’s way is and how to follow it is hardly a 21st century problem; rather, it’s a timeless, human problem. We can easily fall into the trap of thinking that being in relationship with God is all up to us. It might not be a bad idea to take a step back and remember who is the human, with limited abilities, and then put our faith and trust in a Creator Father who sent his own Son into the world to teach and lead us along the right way.
And let’s not forget that the journey is important — not just the destination. There are endless opportunities to serve others in God’s name along the way, and even what seems like something small and unimportant can be a difference-maker to the person with whom we interact. There are many roads, many ways, and we won’t all be on the same one, but we’ll be going the same way, and will meet up at the destination.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We can make this little phrase as complicated or simple as we choose, but following Christ puts us on the way, leading us to his truth, and ultimately to life in him. Consider taking a little quiet time this week, read John 14, and mull over the assurances and promises of Jesus to us all, now and for all time.
Your friend in Christ,
Mary Rogers