The Winding Road

In every national forest or wilderness area that I've ventured into I've traveled upon long and winding roads. The roads themselves weren't really a part of the journey I sought, but still had to be used if the real adventure could ever ensue. Then, each time along the way to the trail heads that mark the entrances into the lands I sought I've realized these roads do in fact become part of the journey. Of course the greatest joys and exhilirations for me are always found on the trail rather than the road, but the road is so very necessary. Without setting out on the pavement I could never reach the point where the soil of the longed for trail begins.

As I began writing this I immediately thought about the Christian believer's way of faith, and that the way of and in Christ is in fact straight and narrow. Let me quickly reassure you that this musing is not intended to be a commentary on the way of belief intended for Christ's followers. Instead this is simply an observation that in the distant, and often recent, pasts that precede the moment we live in there are these long and winding roads. They represent the actuality of the roads we've taken and the ways we've lived rather than what the Lord has necessarily intended. Thank God that Jesus meets us on these roads and points us to the trail heads we've been aiming for, and which He's been calling us to. Yet, let us not mistake that these winding roads are there and it is by His grace that they do in fact wind rather than being one hairpin turn after another.

If the trail I was looking for started when I heeded Christ's call to know and follow him during an Air Force chapel service in basic training then my own winding road started somewhere in my early teens. It was in those days that I was beginning to challenge many of the vitally important truths I had been told, whether about family, life, or God. As with nearly every teen there are numerous factors that contribute to rebellion, but at the core of a young man's heart is a need to be affirmed and highly valued by his father.

I didn't know this back then but my father was doing every thing he knew to do in an effort to be what he understood a good father to be. The long hours my dad would often work along with the difficulty of his labor caused me to take great pride in him as a little boy, but as the years went by I mistakenly began to lessen the importance of his efforts in my mind. By the time I was in my early teens I had been frustrated a few too many times by unmet expectations and missed opportunities, but I lacked the ability to express these to him. So instead I'd become a little more angry about the missed football or basketball games and a little more unwilling to do what he expected of me. Of course each time this happened I'd wind up getting a little further down a road that was not only creating more distance from my father, but from the Lord as well.

There were other influences in those years that also caused me to take a number of foolish turns that actually steered me away from the trail of significance I was trying to find. Rather than glorify lifestyles of hurt and pain, which were characterized by behaviors I knew were both unhealthy and wrong I'll simply say that God's grace to me was very very great. It was because of that amazing grace that the trail guide I needed met me on the confused labyrinth of a winding road I had traveled. As I said the Lord met me in that boot camp chapel service and I knew that if I were going to venture out from that trail head everything before that moment would have to change, and it did. With the Holy Spirit as my guide I realized my responsibility for the difficulty in the relationship with my father and sought to began restoration. He also began to show me the tools and techniques I would need to journey and navigate well on the trail I had finally found. Living on this trail would of course mean that I would never again require the use of any long and winding road.

What is the winding road in your rearview mirror?

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
Isaiah 30:21