“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
This year is almost over. How many times were you tempted to change directions this past year? Question for this last Monday of 2024, do you know where you are headed today? While that thought was going through my mind after reading the above passage from Proverbs, a story came back from some book that I had read some time ago. I seem to think it was a book written by Billy Graham. The story was about Thomas Henry Huxley who was a famous biologist, teacher, author and a defender of the theory of evolution.
The story tells that after Huxley had finished another series of public assaults against several truths Christians held sacred, he was in a hurry the following morning to catch his train to the next city. He took one of Dublin's famous horse-drawn taxis and settled back with his eyes closed to rest himself for a few minutes. He assumed the driver had been told the destination by the hotel doorman, so all he said as he got in was, "Hurry up, I'm almost late. Drive fast!" The horses lurched forward and galloped across Dublin at a vigorous pace. Before long Huxley glanced out the window and frowned as he realized they were going west, away from the sun, not toward it. Leaning forward, the scholar shouted, "Do you know where you are going?" Without looking back, the driver yelled a classic line, not meant to be humorous, "No, your honor! But I'm driving very fast!"
There are times in the news we read about our world and probably need to confess that we aren’t sure where we are at the moment but we are headed somewhere really fast. Our culture; great speed, much motion, rapid movement, but an unknown destination. It is an old and ironic habit of human beings living in this fallen world to run faster when we have lost our way. Does that describe you or someone you know?
As we approach the end of this year, do you find yourself in a big hurry? Are you driving yourself at breakneck speed to get somewhere? We recently celebrated Christmas and once again were drawn closer to God’s Son. That was a great direction to go during Advent. We will have another journey to follow next year during Lent as we turn our thoughts towards Easter. Each of us have a choice in the direction to proceed and our prayers should be asking the Holy Spirit to lead us in that direction towards Jesus. You select your speed and head your steering wheel towards Jesus.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay