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.”

Lessons from Cars 16

Lesson 16. Dashboard: information

The dashboard of your car is the source of all kinds of vital information necessary for the safe performance of your vehicle. The early cars gave the barest essentials: gas gage, engine temperature, voltage, odometer, speedometer, turn signals, and high beam indicator. With electronic dashboards of today we have all that and more. My minivan shows me the oil life, the average amount of fuel consumed per kilometre, that a seatbelt is not fastened and that a door is ajar. It even has a built in satellite system that enables me to phone hands free.

If our lives can be compared to a car the question we need to consider is where are we getting the information necessary for a healthy, fulfilling life? Is the information reliable? Is it enough? We acquire a lot of information over the years—some more helpful than others. Advertisers will try to convince you that you need their products in order to be happy. Your friends may tell you that you need to have certain experiences to be happy—do drugs, smoke, drink, have sex. Others may tell you that you need money, fame, or power to be happy. But what is God saying to you? That is the most vital information you need to know.

Proverbs 3:6 (NKJV)

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.