Curves and Bumps in the Road

 

My eleven-year-old grandson was playing on my wife’s iPad a week ago and closed it in frustration.  I said to him, “Hey, it’s only a game.  It’s supposed to be fun.”  Bennett mumbled, “I can’t have any fun with all of those curves and bumps in the road.”  I thought for a moment and said, “So the road is giving you trouble?”  Bennett replied, “Yeah, Granddaddy.  If the road was straight and smooth, I would be able to make it so much easier.  I could collect hundreds of gold coins.  It would be great!”  I answered, “You’re right, Bennett it would be much easier that way.  But it would be boring too.”  But I wasn’t thinking about Bennett’s road game, I was thinking about Bennett’s life-road ahead.  Hey, God could smooth out the road if He wanted to.  God could remove the bumps and make life easier.  But would that help us?  Would life really be better off if everything went our way and we never had a problem?  Our loving heavenly Father knows exactly what we need to help us to grow and to help us to become better individuals.  God allows difficulties in our lives to toughen us up for greater difficulties that will come along later in life.  Hey, it’s the curves and the bumps in life that make us better.  But without God, the curves and bumps of life might make us bitter.  Our trust in the good Lord makes the difference.  Are we living our lives for ourselves?  Or are we living our lives to please God and to prepare ourselves for heaven?  Solomon said in Proverbs 3:5&6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  Yes, Bennett, we need the curves and the bumps to bring us back the God.  And we need God … more than you’ll ever know.

GPS

 

I have been a AAA member since 1992.  I thought it would be a good idea when I began traveling overseas to have the breakdown coverage.  And it did come in handy.  In 2004 I stopped in France to fuel up and got diesel instead of gasoline.  The French auto club drained my tank, refilled it with gasoline, and I was on my way.  ÖAMTC, the equivalent of AAA in Austria, changed a flat tire for me in Salzburg, Austria in 1995.  Another feature of AAA is their maps.  I used to pick up maps of Europe and advice on hotels from the AAA office in Chattanooga.  But I haven’t used a map in several years.  With the advent of GPS and satellite navigation, AAA maps are obsolete.  With Magellan loaded in my rental car, I can get to anywhere I please with ease and confidence.  But Europe isn’t the only unfamiliar destination that I need directions for.  I’m glad that I have trustworthy information on how to make the trip to heaven.  I could never get there without the blessed Holy Spirit as my guide.  Hey, I’ve never been to heaven, and God is the only guide qualified to get me safely there.  Jesus himself said in John 14:6, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Did you get that?!  Jesus isn’t just one of the ways to heaven, Jesus is the ONLY way!  Just like the onboard navigation that I use to get me to my destinations, Jesus alone will take me safely to heaven.  And that’s a fact!

Decisions

 

The playground at school can be brutal.  Or at least it used to be.  Today a teacher is always supervising, but back when I went to school, the playground was a jungle.  “Every man for himself” was the rule.  When I was in the first grade, I was running around at recess and came up behind Howard C.  For some strange reason, I thought it would be fun to grab Howard from behind around his neck.  So I did.  But Howard reacted quickly flipping me forward over his head and sending me sprawling headlong onto the ground.  I picked myself up as Howard smiled at his victory.  I brushed off the grass and wiped off a scraped forehead.  I wasn’t hurt to much, but I had learned a valuable lesson.  That afternoon at home, my mother wiped off my forehead and asked, “What happened to you?”  I brushed her away mumbling, “Oh, nothing.  I fell down at recess.”  Not exactly the truth, but not quite a lie.  I didn’t want to tell her that I had tangled with Howard and it was my fault.  I didn’t want to admit that I had jumped onto Howard’s back and had caused an altercation.  Hey often in life we make a miscalculation.  We make a snap decision that turns out to be a poor decision.  James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”  It’s a good idea to ask God BEFORE we make a decision.  God can give us pause to think through the consequences of our decisions BEFORE they become poor decisions … like jumping on Howard’s back.  Some poor decisions end up as a scrape on the forehead, but other poor decisions end up with terrible consequences like divorce or abortion.  Get into the habit of asking God on little decisions and you will ask Him on big decisions.  And that’s a good thing.