Caught in Heavy Traffic

 

Good morning and Happy Friday!  I am praying we all have a wonderful day today.  You know how good you feel when someone tells you how much they appreciate you – or says something good about you?  Sure, we all do!  Cheerful kind words build us up and help us through tough times.  It means something to us when someone expresses confidence in our abilities or tells us they have faith in us.  Let’s be the person who offers up kind words to someone else today.  Build someone else up by expressing your faith in them.  Someone you know needs just the right words today and you may be just the right person to say them. 

 Caught in Heavy Traffic –

My parents were on a trip together.  They were driving through Atlanta.  If you’ve ever driven through Atlanta, you know how bad traffic can be there.   Well, I guess they came through at one of the busiest times of day.  I remember Mom telling me about it when they came back home.  She said it was scary. 

There were multiple lanes of traffic all going the same direction at what seemed like hair-raising speed.  Cars were speeding by in a blur and the lanes were tight.  They felt pinned in.  Every lane was moving so quickly, they could not slow down or get to another lane so they could exit the interstate.

 “What did Dad do?” I asked. 

“The only thing he could do,” she said.  “He focused on the road ahead.  He maintained his speed and kept moving forward.  He could not afford to look around.”  

They made it through Atlanta just fine; but I remember what she said about how much concentration it took both of them to make it through the city.    Mom compared the experience to our journey to get to heaven.  I loved her parallels.

 She compared looking straight ahead on the highway to staying on the straight and narrow road to heaven.  They could not look from side to side on the highway or they might end up veering into another lane and getting hit by another car.  While travelling the road of righteousness, we cannot afford to look around.  We don’t want to wander off the path, we will most likely get hit by sin if we do.

 Just like they didn’t want to have a wreck, we shouldn’t allow the world to cause us to have a spiritual wreck.  We need to say focused on what is good and true.  We need to concentrate on God’s love and showing that love to others. 

 Mom said the cars were just racing by.  The world is distracting.  Things happen fast all around us.  We must keep our attention on the main thing – getting to heaven.  In the situation with my parents on the road, they were in it together.  They were not alone.  As Christians we are never alone.  The Lord is our partner, and He will help us stay focused.  If only we let Him. 

That’s the key.  Choosing the right road … not veering from it.  Moving forward – not lagging behind.  Keeping our eyes on the road to heaven.  Concentrating on our destination.  Keeping God as our travelling companion. 

We can do this – together we can make this journey.  It is not always easy.  Sometimes we get caught up in heavy traffic.  We might think it would be easier to take a detour.  But if we keep God in our hearts and continue to move straight ahead, we will make it!

Christ above all things – Robin Whitley