A Ribbon Of Highway

Sometimes when I’m driving a long distance my mind goes to silly things. Some would say, unusual but let’s just say silly. If you are like me, your mind wanders from one thing to another, to another. It could be going over a conversation you had that you didn’t feel ended properly or a situation you are about to get into. All of this tells me our minds and thoughts are very unusual. I called someone this morning and woke them up. They said almost right away that they were having an unusual dream but they know not remembering it may be a good thing. The mind does strange things weather we are awake or asleep.

Recently I was driving and driving and my mind started to wander. At one point I started thinking about the rules of the road. I started off by taking note of the road signs; there are posted speed limits, mileage signs and everyone’s favourite, construction signs. I believe the signs are there for our benefit. They keep us moving in the right direction within safe standards to keep everyone safe. There were other signs. No parking, Keep Off Shoulder, No Stopping and the odd No Parking signs. Now, is there a particular one for us right now? Think about that one for a while as it relates to your life and moving forward.

Beyond the posted signs there are other signs that do not need words to tell us what we need to know. We learn all of these before we get behind the wheel for the first time. Just a few are, yield, curve ahead and my favourite, Deer Crossing. Especially south of Atlanta…

But then my mind got stuck on the ribbon of lines on the ribbons of highways. There are two colours for these lines, yellow and white. Yellow is like the amber light on the traffic light. It is a warning of something to be aware of. Then there is white which just tells us to keep to the right except in England where it says keep to the left. On top of this, they can also be solid or broken lines. Each of these also tells us something.

As my mind took in all of these I realized we have the same thing in our bibles. There are things, signs if you will, given to us by God in those pages that help us to keep going in the right direction as we continue on life’s journey. But it is more then that, it is more then a guide for life and living as God intended us to live. It is also a guide, a manual; we need to repeatedly go to as it reminds us on how to be safe. There are lines we can cross that lead to spiritual death and others that will cause us to be maimed or suffer with the rest of our lives.

I believe the bible does not have all the specific answers we look for but I do believe it puts down the right line on the road that will keep us safe and in His care.

Something to think about

Rob

Climb Every Mountain

It’s always fun watching children exercise their imaginations. Especially when they play make believe connected to using the kitchen table and chairs draped in a blanket as a fort or a castle. I remember doing that many times with my brother. It was make believe and we dreamed big dreams and acted out what we assumed was what soldiers would do in a fort or how kings would rule over their servants.
A few weeks back I watched a young child reenact the same activities I remember as a child. Even with all the changes in life, compared to 50 years ago, I noticed only a few changes over these many years. With them, it wasn’t a fort but a house, built into a cave and he used an old milk crate on top of the table to make it even taller. Just before he got to the top of this “building” to yell, “I’m the King of the Castle,” mom came into the room and ceremoniously dethroned him. It made me smile as I could hear my mother repeating the same words.
At times, life could be interpreted the same. We work like crazy getting to the top. Striving for the position everyone dreams of. And there is always someone around to take us down a peg. Or someone who steps on us as they climb over us yelling, “I’m the King of the Castle.” Two of the disciples asked Jesus through their mom if they could be the greatest when we get to heaven. After this life is over and we step into heaven we will experience nothing of the striving we now experience all around us. There will be no more pretending and no more mountains to climb and conquer. When we get there, we will not strive to be first and no trying to get to the top. We will all stand around on level ground looking up into the face of Jesus.
Maybe we should have a dress rehearsal of heaven today.
Something to think about
RB

Climb Every Mountian

It’s always fun watching children exercise their imaginations. Especially when they play make believe connected to using the kitchen table and chairs draped in a blanket as a fort or a castle. I remember doing that many times with my brother. It was make believe and we dreamed big dreams and acted out what we assumed was what soldiers would do in a fort or how kings would rule over their servants.
A few weeks back I watched a young child reenact the same activities I remember as a child. Even with all the changes in life, compared to 50 years ago, I noticed only a few changes over these many years. With them, it wasn’t a fort but a house, built into a cave and he used an old milk crate on top of the table to make it even taller. Just before he got to the top of this “building” to yell, “I’m the King of the Castle,” mom came into the room and ceremoniously dethroned him. It made me smile as I could hear my mother repeating the same words.
At times, life could be interpreted the same. We work like crazy getting to the top. Striving for the position everyone dreams of. And there is always someone around to take us down a peg. Or someone who steps on us as they climb over us yelling, “I’m the King of the Castle.” Two of the disciples asked Jesus through their mom if they could be the greatest when we get to heaven. After this life is over and we step into heaven we will experience nothing of the striving we now experience all around us. There will be no more pretending and no more mountains to climb and conquer. When we get there, we will not strive to be first and no trying to get to the top. We will all stand around on level ground looking up into the face of Jesus.
Maybe we should have a dress rehearsal of heaven today.
Something to think about
RB

He Holds My Hand

Have you ever looked at a picture and it communicates to you? No, not about the people but about what you see in the picture. No, not something in the background or objects there, but there is just this special something that stirs your heart? I just notice something significant in a picture I received in an email. It was a picture of a tall, bigger then life, long and lanky bean pole of a father standing beside his very young, petite, little bit of a thing daughter. They were all smiles and happy as they stood there holding hands, and she smiled broadly as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Wait. She didn’t have a care in the world.
But, this morning as I looked at the picture, I saw a couple of things. It showed me a father who didn’t have to reach anywhere. He just stood there. With hands at his sides, he seemed to have a proud look on his face as he stood by his little girl. Or it could have been a smile that was generated by someone saying, “smile.” I prefer to think the former.
The other thing I felt and noticed was how they held hands. Even as the dad didn’t have to do anything, the girl had to reach up, just above her shoulders so they could hold hands. From the picture, it’s difficult to tell whether he is holding her hand or she his?
What an astonishing picture of God and us. We need to be doing the same thing as a child of God. He doesn’t have to and He doesn’t need to do anything special to be our Father. He just stands there, ready willing and able to take our hand. We just need to reach out to Him. At times I believe that He is holding tightly onto our hand. At other times we are the ones that need to hold firmly to His. What reassurance we have knowing our father is there and all we have to do is reach up and take His hand.
Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.
Something to think about.
Rob