The Road Less Travelled (Sleepy time thoughts) January 7, 2010

Tonight I was lying in bed and I could not get to sleep.  I was going over my day in my mind.  I left earlier this morning to head out to Thetford about 29 miles from our house for a hair appointment.  When I left it was freezing cold but surprisingly enough, the roads were pretty clear.  There was a light snow dusting the fields and small little snow piles along the sides of the roads but it was generally pretty safe driving conditions.  Being from South Louisiana, we never had to learn how to drive in snowy or icy weather.  In fact, I would venture to say that I have NEVER driven in roads that were covered with anything other than rain.  Because of this, I tend to be a little apprehensive about driving in the least amount of snow or ice here in England.  English roads are just by definition and statistics are much more dangerous place to drive, even in the hottest months of the year.  They say, in fact, that the most dangerous thing you will do in England, is drive.  As I was sitting at the salon having my hair done, the snow began falling.  Lightly at first and then quickly began really coming down.  With every flake that hit the ground I felt myself worrying a little more about my trip back home.  I was sitting in this salon chair fretting and panicing over a road that I could not even see.  Tonight I was thinking about how much of life is like that.
How often do we set out on our journey with the car facing the road in the direction of Christ.  We keep our eyes peeled on the road (Christ) driving defensively but optimistically in our perfect driving conditions under his umbrella of protection.  Then the weather starts to change and our perfect little trip starts to get threatened.  As the clouds loom overhead, we start looking around us to see if the other cars are affected.  We start trying to drive like the others and make sure we are keeping up with the traffic and not standing out as a poor driver.  Then, the snow and the ice come.  We get a little nervous and we place our eyes directly on the road (Christ) in order for him to protect us.  We think that if we have our eyes on the road we will be safe.  But sometimes, no matter how well we are watching the road, we hit a patch of black ice.  Something we could not see coming.  The car begins to spin out of our control and we are helpless to correct the situation.  We make excuses about our careful driving and focus all of our attention on what we were doing right and how this should NOT have happened.  We even turn to pop pscyhology and we wonder if the tires or the brakes were loved enough by the owner of the car.  What could have prevented this.  In all actuality, Nothing could have.  No amount of fretting over weather conditions or measuring your driving to the other people on the road or preparation of the vehicle could have prevented this small patch of black ice which is now spinning your trip out of control.  And then, as the car begins to slow and you start to face the road once again, you realize that the entire time you were spinning, you were still ON THE ROAD (in Christ).  Just because you hit a patch of ice does not mean that he forsake you or that the enemy has taken hold.  You see, the journey has already been planned and the road has been carefully built.  There is no black ice or potholes that were not placed there purposefully-in order to make you focus harder on the road.
^{Matthew 7:  13-14} “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I— / I took the one less traveled by,
/ And that has made all the difference.
–”The Road Not Taken”

Robert Frost, 1920