The last few weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time in travel. Reflection on this had me thinking about some lessons learned from traveling the road. Consider that…

Sometimes The Road Gets Rough:Especially in Indiana! The colder weather means potholes and the Indiana roads were full of them – I’m pretty sure my truck now needs alignment! Sometimes life’s road is rough. There are trials, heartaches, disappointments, illnesses, and deaths. We see this with Paul. On his life’s road, when he ran into the pothole of his “thorn in the flesh,” he “pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from him.” The Lord didn’t remove the rough spot. Instead, he promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul took courage in this, saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:8-10). God never promised that life would be easy (not even for His people), but He has promised to be with us every step of the way! When you hit the potholes in life’s road, you need to keep going with the Lord’s help. The destination will be worth the rough ride!

You Must Take The Right Road:Going to the Kentucky meeting, if I had taken and stayed on Interstate 40 east from Cookeville, I would have never arrived where I wanted to be because I took the wrong road. So it is spiritually. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14). The path you take determines your destination. Thankfully, God has given us a “GPS” – His word. It gives us turn-by-turn directions to life eternal. Remember, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Are you taking the path that leads to life outlined in the Bible? If not, you will never reach the destination of Heaven!

The Desire To Get Home:I enjoy, and am so thankful to God for, the opportunity to go to other places and declare the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. However, when the meeting is over, my biggest desire is to get home to Susan, Eliza, and Emma. On the way home from Indiana this past week, there were places I could have stopped and distractions I could have entertained, but the desire to be home was so strong that I just kept driving forward. Would to God that we would do the same in our spiritual lives! This life is full of things that would distract us spiritually. If entertained these invite spiritual ruin. Jesus spoke of those who would allow “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” to enter in and “choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mk. 4:19). Demas fell to this, “having loved this present world” (2 Tim. 4:10). Our desire to get home should be so great that nothing can distract us on the road to Heaven. Note Paul’s ambition: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). May we also do that “one thing,” desiring to be home with God so greatly that we single-mindedly drive daily towards that goal!

David Eldridge