Meditations On The Road

Joshua looks at the future of his sons and their tribes. Genesis 49   “Dan [ h ]   will provide justice for his people      as one of the tribes of Israel. 17  Dan will be a snake by the roadside,      a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels      so that its rider tumbles backward. 18  “I look for your deliverance,  Lord . Justice --- policing on the side of the road.  Perhaps a mixed blessing for those who have a heavy foot and tend to exceed speed limits. Presently, however, policing is more important than ever. Since the pandemic, running from police is an everyday occurrence. Running, then chases that end  with fatal crashes involving the innocent. That happened recently in the Dayton, Ohio area.  I like the descriptor of "biting the horse's heels, so that its rider tumbles backwards."

  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 acci...

  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) , o...

  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...