God has opened doors for a lot of interesting opportunities for me to do ministry. About 90% of them are outside the Montgomery area. I have a general rule that if my destination is about 6 hours or less, I drive. If it’s more than 6 hours, I plan to fly.
When I drive it’s always a challenge to select the best route to get there. Often times, there are a lot of options. Time is important, so I try to be a good steward of selecting the best route.
On the last Saturday in October I drove over to Greenville, MS to meet with church leaders there and preach on Sunday. Greenville is in the Delta of Mississippi and almost in Arkansas. I discovered there are three main ways to get there.
One way was to go down towards Mobile and utilize the interstate for a while and then cut up to Greenville. An alternative way was to go up through Birmingham and across through Tupelo and Oxford and then come down to Greenville. The most direct route was to take Hwy 82 and go straight across Mississippi. This route didn’t have interstate and did carry me through some towns like Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Starkville, etc. I chose Hwy 82. I think I made the best choice.
In life there are a lot of choices as to how to get where God wants us to be. Some of them are better than others. I’ve noticed that when I ask people for advice, I get a lot of different opinions. Choosing the best route to walk out our Christian faith is not to get advice from people, but to seek God’s advice and direction. He knows where He wants us to be and the best way to help us get there.
I was reading in the book of Isaiah where God deals with Israel about choosing the right way to live. They made bad choices. God gave them a chance to “reprogram” and go the best route.
In Isaiah 35, he uses some beautiful pictures to describe the way God wants his people to go. He says the main road will go through a once deserted land and it will be named “ The Holy Highway.” I love that name – “The Holy Highway.” That’s the best way to travel!
Isaiah describes “The Holy Highway” as one in which evil hearted men will not be allowed to walk on it. God will walk there with you. He describes it to say that the highway will go through streams which will burst forth in the wilderness and in the desert. That highway will cause even the parched land to become a pool with springs of water in a thirsty land.
I really love it when he says that lame people can leap up like a deer and those who could not speak will shout and sing. I’m thinking that is God’s promise that I might even be able to sing if I stay on “The Holy Highway!!” And for a guy with a hip replacement, leaping like a deer is great news!
In driving to a lot of places recently I’ve used my GPS – Global Positioning System. I’ve discovered that sometimes even the GPS is wrong. The infallible GPS is God’s Positioning System!
I know that we can trust completely God’s direction for our lives. I know that He’s never made a mistake. I know that He loves us. I know that His greatest desire is for us to walk with Him. The Holy Highway doesn’t appear on a Google GPS. It does appear in Isaiah 35. We need to get on the Holy Highway. It’s got enough lanes for everyone of us to travel at the same time.
The Holy Highway is open!
