Traveling "The" Road

My husband and I spend alot of time in our cars and on the road traveling to different churches with the ministry.

A church we are affiliated with needed a Kindergarten teacher to finish out the year:the current teacher's husband had been transfered with his work. I stepped in to fill the gap and finish out the year for them. That meant a daily long commute of about 100 miles round trip for four months.

At first I carried my directions with me everyday to make sure that I would not get lost or take the wrong roads and have to backtrack costing time and gas.
As the road became familiar, I stopped consulting my directions and started listening to the radio, going over lesson plans in my mind as I traveled the road. One morning, I suddenly realized that nothing seemed familiar to me. Panic! Had I missed my turn? Was I going the wrong way? You can imagine my relief when I spotted a familiar landmark.

As I calmed back down, I began to think of it in a spiritual way. As Christians this can happen to you and me in our walk with the Lord. We can get sidetracked, our mind on day to day living and off the Lord who is our guide. As I panicked that morning on the road, we can have a spiritual panic attack.

First thing we say is: "Where are you Lord?" Then we want to accuse him of leaving us to fend for ourselves. We can't see him taking care of us. We can't recognise his 'familiar landmark' ahead of us.

It's then that God sends a piece of a scripture verse, or the verse of a song that I have heard, or a brother in Christ to encourage me and to calm my spiritual nerves,to let me know when I am headed right.

There are some rural roads with four way stops that do not warrant a traffic light, but if you are watching the road, you will see the warning painted in large letters that even glow in the dark, letting you know: STOP AHEAD!

How many times in my life has God painted those letters STOP AHEAD!for me, and in my headlong,head strong way I go right through and into some major spiritual wreck! If I would only listen and look for his warnings how much better my life would be.

When you travel to a place you have never been you make preparation before hand. Some use a map, others may use online directions, others an
in-car directional device of some sortlike 'on star',Why? Getting to where we are headed without getting lost or delayed is important to everyone.

The Bible is our "onstar" our direct line in this world to our Lord who is our guide. Prepare ahead of time,read the directions. It marks the road to heaven clearly and gives step by step details as to the traffic problems, and road hazards along the way.

As you begin this new year, make sure your direct line to the Lord is always with you and you are listening carefully. Let's avoid those spiritual panic attacks