I Got My Roadmap! Do You?

Have you ever gone on vacation without the roadmap? Drives you nuts in short order, doesn’t it? You stop at the first gas station and pick one up and whoever is sitting in the navigator’s seat gets to studiously mark out the route. Or if you are lucky enough to have one of the newer vehicles equipped with navigation tools would you consider leaving home without having it hooked up ready to go? Probably not!

I recall a weekend road trip that a friend and I took during college. On Thursday after noon, we left when class dismissed in Lexington, KY with the intention of driving shifts through the night until we arrived early morning at our destination in Letts, IA. We planned to take Interstate 74 through central IL all the way into IA. Too easy.

Because I had made the trip several times before (my girlfriend lived there at the time), I didn't think that I needed to take a roadmap. Yet sure enough, around two or three in the morning we began seeing signs for Chicago. "Chicago: 50 Miles"

I don't remember which of us was driving, but it didn't matter. We had taken a wrong turn somewhere and were now about a hundred miles off course. Although I am from Northern Illinois, I was not familiar with the road we were on and had no idea where to go to 'course correct.'

After realizing our mistake, we exited the interstate at the next available off-ramp and stopped at a gas station. We had need of only one thing: a roadmap! Amazingly we had no other navigation issues for the rest of our trip.

I learned an important lesson that night. Beyond the obvious 'always keep a map under my car seat' which is now my common practice whenever I go on long trips, I learned that without a roadmap it is nearly impossible to arrive at your intended destination when traveling in unfamiliar territory.

You guessed it. I'm not talking about road trips anymore. I'm talking about life in general. If ever there was a better analogy for life, I've yet to find it. Life is a journey through the most unfamiliar roads and terrain that you can imagine. You will experience wrong turns, get lost, and find yourself wishing that you had brought along a roadmap.

Simply put, our roadmap is the Word of God. God's Powerful Scriptures, or GPS, is a tool far older and more accurate than any technological marvel of today. It is the Word of God that can accurately direct us toward the perfect center of God's Will. It is the Word of God that can teach us to serve Him in ways that are pleasing to Him. It is the Word of God that will teach us in every area of our life.

It is the Word of God that can bring revival to America. It was the Word of God that presidents once looked to as the roadmap of National Policy. It was the Word of God that was once used as textbooks in public schools. It was the Word of God!


In Christ,

Nick