Meditations On The Road

  Genesis 48:7 As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). As I read this verse I was reminded of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and the burial of grandma on the side of he road as the Joad's were migrating to California during the Great Depression. One could talk here about roadside memorials marking a fatal accident. I heard a talk about that topic at a conference many years ago.  Rather, I am thinking about the act that sometime we do not reach the end of what we thought was our journey. The memorial is a warning of what might happen. Often it marks a place in the road that is inherently unsafe.  And that is why it is so important to be strong in the Lord NOW, and in every moment, because the next moment might not come. We plan our journeys, but it may be that illness, old age, or an accident will get in

  Genesis 38:14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife Tamar is at the heart of a very messy family story.  At the juncture of this passage Tamar will be confused for a prostitute, but in the end virtue will prevail.  I am using these Bible verses, one after another, to get me thinking about the road and its meaning in American life. And this morning, the above passage gets me going about the prevalence of prostitution on the side of the road. We can place prostitution in the so-called house of ill-repute. But I think it is far more common to find prostitution and prostitutes on the side of the road. Or at truck stops. You can find prostitutes on urban streets, like here in Dayton on North Marin or East 5th Street. Or on busy streets in LA (Figueroa) , or Seattle (Aurora). Ther

  Genesis 24:48 and I bowed down and worshiped the  Lord . I praised the  Lord , the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right  road  to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. This passage tells the story of Abraham's faithful servant who was sent on a mission to find a bride for Isaac. And he does so, finding Rebekah. Note that it was the Lord who sent the servant to Rebekah -- it was the Lord who guided him along the way. The Lord acted like a GPS system in a way, and maybe that is how we need to think of God's direction in our lives. As a driver, you need first to set up the system. You need to fix on an end goal, however nebulous and indefinite it might be. You need to trust the technology, as you need to trust the Lord. Somehow you need to have confidence that the way shown is the right way, even when it appears that it might not be the case. You need to keep you eyes on the screen, just as you need to keep close to God as you travel on the p

  Genesis 16:7  -- The Angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur." The story is one in which Hagar is fleeing from Sarah and the latter's  jealousy and cruelty towards her. And as she is on the road, she stops at a spring that is beside the road to Shur. And here an angel appears. Rest stops are always fun for me when on a long road trip. Some are formal rest stops, off the Interstates or the PA Turnpike. You leave the capsule of the car, and now you are around numerous different kinds of people, all stopping for the restroom or road food.  In the case of the PA turnpike, it might be Popeyes, or Burger King, Starbucks, or the convenience store with its variety of coffees, snacks, and if you rare lucky, roller dogs. But have you ever taken time to meet with an angel at the rest stop, or perhaps be an angel to someone in distress like Hagar? The rest stop is a perfect time to reach out to someone, because you nev

  Psalm 1 1  Blessed is the one      who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take      or sit in the company of mockers, 2  but whose delight is in the law of the  Lord ,      and who meditates on his law day and night. 3  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,      which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—      whatever they do prospers. 4  Not so the wicked!      They are like chaff      that the wind blows away. 5  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,      nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6  For the  Lord  watches over the way of the righteous,      but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. The road of life -- and what road to take? The Psalm states that there are only two roads, but I believe most of us often get off "the path of the Godly" and on to the road of destruction.  And we go back and forth, for we can easily become like chaff thrown into the wind, going