Wide Highway or Narrow Road?

Earlier this summer, Mr. H and I went on a trip to Birmingham.  It was my first road trip riding my own bike instead of just riding behind him on his bike.  One of the first things I wanted was a map.  Yes, I was following Mr. H, but what if we got separated just before a critical turn?  I wanted to know what road I needed to be on to get where I needed to go.

Because here’s the deal:  If you don’t care where you end up, it doesn't matter what road you’re on.  But if you have a destination in mind, you need to be on a road that will get you to that place.

Matthew 7:13-14    “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Let’s look at a map.

You see Lucedale over on the Mississippi side and Mobile is at the bottom of the yellow line.  Birmingham is in that knot of yellow up at the top.  Looking at this map, you’d think the best way to get where I want to go is to get on I-65 and just keep going until I get there. Or maybe over to I-59 and then I-20 over to Birmingham.  But that’s about it. 

Those big fat yellow lines look so inviting.  They go right where I want to go, right?  The fatter the line, the more lanes on the highway.  Don’t have to worry about missing turns.  The speed limit is usually higher so you can go faster without breaking the law.

But what about real life?  I mean, it’s not really a big fat yellow line painted on the ground.  It’s a highway.

It’s a broad highway!

Wow!  Look how easy it is to get around.

Think about the speed you’re traveling.

Could I take that exit if I needed to?  How would I get over there?

Looks like I’m going right where I need to be going!  This is actually I-65. Several years ago we were headed north toward Birmingham and saw this backup on the southbound side.

Remember verse 13:  'its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.'  Looks like the entire world chose that way.  And they are going nowhere fast! 

The world is like that.  People see everyone else on a big expensive road and think all those guys know where they’re going.  But, really, they’re just following the guy in front of them, who’s following the guy in front of him.  Some are just going around in circles and don’t even know it. 

Let’s go back and look closer at the map. 

These little roads didn’t even show up on that first map!  We had to go looking for them.

You can miss so much when you don’t look closely.  Yes, these roads are smaller, fewer lanes, but there are other advantages.  What do you get to see from the broad highway?  Not much!! 

The smaller roads seem winding, but sometimes they are avoiding obstacles. 

 

Sometimes they are respecting other people’s property lines.

There is usually something interesting to see along the way.

Or a great place to stop and rest.

Or maybe just the view is breathtaking.

It’s the same way on the road to God’s Kingdom.

There’s that broad highway that most people think leads to where they want to go.  It’s filled with people going around in circles and getting nowhere fast.  That is the road to Hell.

 

Then there’s that narrow road.  It’s the road that Jesus blazed for us.  Sometimes it seems winding – it’s leading us around obstacles.  It is respecting the boundaries of others.  It leads us to the things He wants us to see, to the people he wants us to meet, it causes us to use skills that He wants us to practice.

We would miss all those things on that noisy, wide highway to nowhere. 

But there they are, on a narrow, rough road that leads directly to Him.

So which road will you choose?

Odd Sky

This morning when I stepped out onto the front porch, two things were immediately noticeable.  The first was the warm humidity wrapping itself around my air-conditioned arms and legs.  The second was the lightning that seemed to surround the sky.  There was flashing to the south as well as to the northeast.  I was surprised when I stepped off the porch to see that, overhead, the stars were visible from horizon to horizon.  In the pre-dawn hours, clouds usually make their presence known simply by obscuring the stars.  This morning, the clouds were below the horizon all around.  They didn't cover the stars.  They simply lit up the sky around the edges.

The Example

Last night a family with 2 sons came into the Fellowship Hall for dinner.  The oldest son spotted a friend, ran up to him and grabbed him in a big hug.  The younger brother watched the exchange and waited.  When his big brother moved away, the younger brother grabbed the friend and hugged, too.

Quite a few people commented on the 2nd hug.

If someone is praised for following your example, you are definitely doing the right thing.

Even if you're only 4 years old, there are people younger than you watching to see how you treat the world.

Monday Morning Walk

I am up before the moon this morning.  Or maybe she is in her dark phase and isn't going to let anyone see her at all today.  The stars are very bright in her absence and the air is clear.  This far in the deep south, the humidity of August is usually a visible entity.

The lane is dark.  A few of our neighbors have security lights, but none illuminate the lane.  They shine on sleeping cars and tool sheds.  Orion is high in the sky behind us as we head out.

The lane runs north, so that's where we're headed.  I have never noticed before that there aren't many bright stars low in the north.  The sun is still below the horizon, so it is very dark.

At the end of the lane we turn left and start up the hill.  The horses that sometimes trott up to the fence to greet us stay with their hay this morning.  That means I am looking up when the meteor races into the west. A straggler from the Perseid shower?  No one else says anything, so I suspect I was the only one who saw it.

At the top of the hill, we turn left again and start downhill.  The incline isn't nearly as noticeable as it will be on the return trip! This part of our walk has the most traffic.  There is usually a dump truck that we can hear backing up to start his morning commute:  beep...beep...beep...beep.  Then a minute or so later his lights appear at the intersection.  Most days he heads straight through the intersection and we slide to the edge of the road to give him plenty of room.  This morning he takes a left and we stay on the road.  It is so quiet and so dark that there really isn't much chance of a vehicle sneaking up on us.

When the moon is out, there are lacy patterns of trees on the road.  This morning it is just dark.  When we come to an open space, I look east to see a lavender band beginning to form on the horizon. We pass a long section of white rail fence that always signals the domain of horses.  Orion is high in front of us.

We've walked about a mile now, but we're not ready to turn around.  We've come to my favorite part of the journey.  There are only 2 more houses to pass.  The first has no security light, just a warm front porch fixture that glows on the door and 2 friendly chairs.  It is surrounded by trees.  We walk through a deep darkness and come to the last house.  Its security light is so bright that it illuminates the house, the old homestead on one side and part of the hay field on the other.

Just past the hay field, we pass under an oak that arches over the road.  Tall pines rise on both sides and the road becomes a dark canyon.  The scent of pine fills the air. The only thing visible is the sky like a river above us.  There is a fork in that river of sky that we know is the turn-around point of our walk.

In the sky above the hay field, I can see that most of Orion's cosmic companions have faded.  He is steadfast in his watch.  As we come back to that last house, a rooster's hoarse crow announces our passing.  The darkness is losing its hold on the night.  We make our way back along the white rail fence and begin to climb.  The gentle descent of the outbound trip has become an angle of attack on the way home.

At the crest of the hill, we turn right.  The lavender wave in the east has crept up higher than the distant treeline.  Just a bit farther and we're on our own lane.  I look up and the only part of Orion that is still visible is the lower corner of his tunic.  The sky is brightening in the east as we turn into our yard.  Orion turns his watch over to the rising sun.

Interesting Phone Call of the Day

Sometimes, you just never know what to expect when you answer the phone at church.  Today provided an excellent example.

I answered the phone and the caller asked if I could look up a bible verse for him.  Now, this isn't an unusual request.  I have looked up verses for people on several occasions. Usually, they give me a topic or a few key words they know are in the specific verse they want and I find it.

This caller had the reference (Psalm 25:4), but wanted to know what that verse said.  So going to trustworthy BibleGateway, I find the words to pass on.  When I had done so, he filled me in on why he wanted to know.  He was wearing an old VBS T-shirt that had that reference on it, and he wanted to be able to answer any question that might come up in conversation about the shirt.  He, being a Gideon, usually has several bibles in his vehicle, but today was empty-handed.  I asked him which VBS that shirt was from and he couldn't remember the theme (the big picture with the name was on his back, which he couldn't see).  I asked him what color it was.  "Black," he replied.  I have shirts for VBS going back almost a decade.  There has been only one black shirt in all that time:  Ramblin' Road Trip, 2005.  (It's amazing what church ladies remember and for the most absurd reasons!)

Notice the connection between the "ways" and "paths" from the verse and the "road" from the theme.  The verse was very familiar to me for a much more recent reason.  This year's VBS at Agricola Baptist was "Inside Out and Upside Down on Main Street."  The memory verse for the week was Psalm 25:4-5.

Our shirts were red this year, by the way, which is a good thing.  My youngest daughter El is currently attending a camp that assigned her to the red team.  I don't know if you have noticed, but there is just not a lot of red clothing in stores this year.  In fact, almost none at all that doesn't reference the 4th of July with fireworks or flags.  And she wanted red clothes to wear this week.  Yes, her VBS shirt is packed.

So now I have an absurd reason to remember that VBS 2011 had a red shirt...

...just in case anyone ever asks.

Getting a Handle on Your Wallet

I saw a post a few weeks ago by a young friend of mine, recently graduated from college.  In it, there was a link to a personal budget spreadsheet.  Being the financial record keeper of my household as well my church, I have an interest in these things.  I decided to check it out.  It was a basic budget with income and basic expenses like rent and utilities.

It got me to thinking about when Mr. H and I were first starting out.  I learned to tithe.  I learned (the hard way) that some expenses come up only once a year, but that one time always comes as a surprise.  It took a decade before I was comfortable with the flow of our finances!

One day all that changed.  A friend and her husband were teaching a couple's Sunday night break-out group at church.  They showed us a budget they had set up for their son, a young adult with his first real job.  It was broken down by weeks:  first week -pay rent and buy groceries; 2nd week -set aside $100 towards next week's car payment and buy groceries; 3rd week - use last week's $100 and this week's check to pay car payment and buy groceries.... you get the idea.

I took that idea to my checkbook register.  I knew how much was coming in every week.  I paid attention to the due dates on all our regular expenses.  I assigned certain bills to specific pay checks: Mortgage to the last paycheck (in case the first paycheck of the month didn't come until the 6th or 7th day of the month!)  Electric bill to the 3rd paycheck, car payment to the 2nd paycheck.  I was stunned at the freedom I felt!  I knew that if nothing unexpected came up, certain bills would always be covered by certain paychecks.

I've heard people say that they don't want the restrictions of living on a budget.  I think they've got the wrong idea about what a budget is.  It's not a set of rules.  It's more like a map.  And unless you have unlimited access to a vast pool of cash, you are on a budget:  you're just ignoring the fact.  Only so much comes in and therefore,  only so much can go out.  You're much better off knowing where it's going.

To help with getting a handle on all the comings and goings of your dollars, I'd like to offer a form to get you started.  If you're familiar with spreadsheet programs, you can download it as an Excel or Open Office file and put your own numbers in (click File, Download as, and pick your format.)  If your computer skills are limited to read-only, get yourself a notebook and a calculator and write it out by hand.  Yes, it will take a while, but believe me, you'll feel better when you can see it all together!

Fireworks

I think tonight is the first time I will have gone to see 4th of July fireworks since 2007.  That year my mom came to spend some time with us and we all went up to Lucedale to see the big display.

What a difference a year makes...

The following year, we had just returned home from her funeral on the 4th and I was not in the mood for celebrating.  The girls made plans to go without me.  I was fine with that (or as fine as I was going to get for a while.)  I'm not sure what I was doing on the 4th in 2009, but I'm pretty sure it didn't include the fireworks display.

Last year, all my girls went up to Starkville and spent the 4th with school friends of the eldest.  Mr. H and I stayed home and enjoyed the time alone.

This year, I think I'm ready.  But I can already feel the sorrow creeping up on me.  I still remember that last Independence Day I shared with her.  It's amazing how that feeling of loss will stab you sharply when you least expect it.