Lessons on the Road 4

Chat #4: Maps

I love using maps when I’m travelling. Maps give you a broad picture of where you are relative to everything else. When you pull in to a rest stop and spread out your map on a picnic table it is very satisfying to plot your progress, to see how far you’ve come and what lies ahead to be explored. You can see mountains and lakes, towns and cities, highways and byways. It’s as if the whole world is spread out before you and you can choose to go wherever you want. That’s exciting.

Back in the 1960’s when I graduated from high school it seemed that life was like that. I had the whole world spread out before me. I could go anywhere I wanted to. I could do anything I wanted to—at least I thought I could. My first choice was to go to university. Then I chose to go teaching. Then I felt a calling to travel one particular road, the road of ministry, and so I became an officer in The Salvation Army. Last year, after 44 years on the road, I retired. Now the map is back on the table. Once more I have choices. That’s exciting.

Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

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.”