The day was drawing rapidly to a close, and we needed to find the major highway leading to our destination. The sun was slowly dropping lower in the sky, and night time would only make travel more difficult. This was not an ideal situation for two young women…..
A few days prior, my friend and I had hopped into her gold Plymouth Duster… yes, during the 70’s… and headed out traveling east from Toronto. Destination? Nova Scotia. We were looking forward to helping out at a children’s week-long program, along the lines of the old-fashioned revival tent meetings. Our journey would take us through the eastern “maritime” provinces, including New Brunswick. Aww, the excitement of a road trip! This trip included traveling through Quebec as well, where I attempted to use my many years of high school French… causing great entertainment to the bone fide Quebecois!
Back to looking for the highway! My friend was the driver and I was the navigator. I have always loved maps and thoroughly enjoyed my position. I knew that we were close to the highway that we were looking for … but just needed to find a small cross road to get us there.
All of a sudden I saw it! Through the trees, I could see the lights of the highway. There, on the left, was a small road, leading in the right direction. I pointed and gave my orders. “There! See it? Turn left. ” We did.
We traveled a short distance on the cross road and finally came out onto a gorgeous, wide, smooth highway. Wow! What a change from the previous roads! We were sailing along, when I suddenly took a better look at the road we were traveling on. The dotted lines were HUGE. I mean HUUUUGGGGE. As my heart started to pound a little more quickly, I looked behind us and saw down at the end of the highway a watchtower of sorts. Oh, no…. you’ve got to be kidding me.
I yelled…. “We’re on a runway!!” Then, “Quick…. turn around. We have to find that little road in the trees.”
Frantically, we looked! All of the trees looked the same. Where did that road go? Seriously? Can’t they put signs out, in case some crazy women try to drive their car on the runway? …. Then we saw it… and raced toward the opening, and bumped back onto the small road in the trees.
We looked at each other…. stared… catching out breath… mumbling incoherent partial sentences about “I can’t believe it” and “a runway” and “oh, my goodness”… and then laughed… uncontrollably!
Although runway driving probably isn’t on your bucket list, I’m thinking that you probably relate more than you think.
From where I’m sitting right now, the lines look HUGE. In fact, they are so huge, that they really don’t make sense. They look distorted. Not the way they are supposed to look. Bigger than I am. Not really giving me direction most of the time. They don’t follow the rules that I’m accustomed to. They make me feel very small and powerless.
But to the pilot… trying to land the plane safely… those same lines are just the right size, make perfect sense, give welcomed direction, are drawn according to the rules, encourage and empower.
Perhaps you and I need to change our viewpoint.
As God looks down at us right now, He sees us changing. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I believe that we don’t quite have everything figured out like we thought we did. We feel a lot more dependent on Him and lot less dependent on ourselves. Our “I’ve got this” attitudes have melted into helpless pools of “I’ve got nothin’.” Our shiny possessions seem to have lost their luster. Our value system has been altered… illuminating once again our basic needs of food, water, safety and security. Many of our hearts have been tenderized to God’s call to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Worship of our Almighty God has come more often from the soul than from the sanctuary. Hurting, broken people have reached out to a loving, redeeming God, Who welcomes, embraces and heals.
From the viewpoint of God…. the One flying the plane… it’s crystal clear. The only way that we’ll see it like He does, is to spend time with Him. Many years before Jesus was born, a prophet named Isaiah gave an invitation… “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near”, followed by an amazing quotation from the Lord, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord, ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'” Isaiah 55:6,8,9
There is no substitute for spending time in the sweet Presence of God, reading His Word, listening for His Voice, pouring out our hearts to Him in prayer and lifting His Name higher in praise.
That is when the lines begin to make sense.