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A Familiar Road Trip

A Familiar Road Trip

Last updated on: February 7, 2017 at 5:17 pm by Guest Contributor

A Familiar Road Trip 2017-02-07T17:17:58-05:00 Guest Contributor

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INTRODUCTION:

“Wow, this piece of fruit is delicious!” he said, as he took a third bite of the crisp piece of fruit.

“I know” she said “and to think we weren’t even supposed to eat anything from that tree. We would’ve never known how good it was.”

“Hold up a minute,” his chewing stopped and he looked straight at her. “Where did you get this piece of fruit?”

“I got it from that large tree out in the middle of the orchard …” she started to explain.

“Forget it!” he interrupted. “Pack a bag now. We’ve got to get out of here!”

And like Bonnie and Clyde, they loaded up their belongings and took off for, well, who really knows where they were planning on going.

ROAD TRIP:
Well, it sure has been one heck of a road trip ever since.
Just barely under way and Cain decided to take out Abel in a drive-by shooting. Then there was that time on the huge boat during the flood that caught the Weather Channel way off guard.

Our luck had run out and so had our money, but we coasted on into Egypt. Man, was that a mistake! Who knew a set of radials and a transmission could cost the price we had to pay?!

I think we’d still be working off that debt if it hadn’t been for Moses and his wise scheme of debt-restructuring. We did feel a little bad for Pharaoh though.

Then, as if that weren’t enough, MapQuest totally screwed up and we spent about 40 years just wandering out there in the hot desert. (And just as one would imagine, none of the men would stop to ask for directions).

The Promised Land turned out to be more of a stopping place than an actual destination. I guess we just weren’t built to settle down. People would start partying and getting out of control, then some wild flood, plague, or illness would rear its ugly head and knock the sense back into us … well, until the next time.

We tried hard to stay on the road. But time after time it seemed there was always a tempting side trip – the new big theme park right off the freeway, or the casino on the Indian reservation.

In fact, that’s pretty much what we thought was going on that night the star lit up the entire sky and all the shepherds showed up in their minivans packed with a bunch of presents. We thought, “Just another diversion.”

That was before “Big John” showed up on the scene with all the heavy equipment and dump trucks and announced the construction of a new bypass.

His idea was incredible: Build the largest, most effective and efficient highway ever. Several lanes wide, totally flat, smooth, and straight. Even many mountains were knocked out of the way as he prepared for the immense undertaking.

It was a major construction project. It took nearly 33 years. And the funny thing is, all of the lanes go the same direction.

In addition, it was the most expensive project in history. Then the murmuring began and they started talking about how it was going to be a toll road, at that point we just about lost it. There was no way we were going to be able to pay any toll.

But, as it was, it was the only way to continue forward; it was the only way to get where we needed to go. So, we got in line to see how much they were going to charge for the toll.

Right then is when we got the biggest surprise of our journey. The guy who had planned the project, the one who coughed up all the money, the one who brought in the workers and the heavy equipment and the dump trucks and the miles of concrete, had decided to write it all off and let everyone use the road – at no cost.

The trip is much different now. We’re making pretty decent time – especially considering we don’t know how much farther we still have to go. We don’t have to spend as much time worrying about maps and directions.

But there are new some new things we have to consider.
Like, just yesterday we picked up a hitchhiker. Just today we helped an elderly woman whose car had broken down. Some of us have decided to travel off in a separate group to go and share food, clothing, and our experiences with others.

One last strange thing: It was pretty dark when we started out. But now it seems the farther we go, the brighter things get.

*Inspired and adapted from a clever piece entitled, “Highway to Heaven” by Al Boyce.

Featured Image: Road by Murat Livaneli; CC 2.0

This was a guest post from Dr. Jeff Hagan.

Jeff is an ordained Christian minister with over 23 years of ministry experience. He has attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary, Tyndale Seminary and a handful of other institutes as well. He has earned several degrees including the Doctor of Christian Education and the Doctor of Theology.

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