Recently, I have been wondering, in my illustrious driving career, just how many miles I have driven. I have been behind the wheel of mini and maxi vans, sedans, and, for one short season, a vintage 1980s -something Mercedes. Through rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, and darkness, what are the cumulative miles on my odometer? I simply don’t know!
I have driven on highways, streets, avenues, boulevards, interstates, and alleys. On some, I have traveled at a high rate of speed, while on others, I have crawled as I navigated New York City congestion and gridlock.
Some roads seemed to have been arrow straight where I could see for miles; others were full of twists and turns where every few feet, a new, unexpected vista opened up right before my eyes!
We had a “great time” on many of those journeys and arrived at our destination sooner than expected. Others have been full of delays, pit stops, and unexpected detours. Ultimately, one way or another, we made it safely to our desired haven.
Nowhere in the Bible is life compared to driving a car. Our faith pilgrimage is often described as a walk or a marathon, a journey where we are “passing through.” We are pictured as strangers and exiles on their way home. The final destination requires a journey – and no two look exactly alike!
As we prepare to enter this New Year with its title of “2025”, we must admit that even though we might make assumptions about the road that lies before us, none of us knows where the GPS of faith will take us!
Fellow pilgrims and sojourners, we need each other on this journey, especially when the road before us takes an unexpected turn that we find difficult to navigate. There might be moments when we must “take the wheel” and help, by God’s grace, navigate our brother or sister through an unanticipated “bump in the road.”
I leave you with a few verses from a Psalm of Ascent, sung by God’s people while on pilgrimage (and most of them on foot): Psalm 121
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.
Jesus, take the wheel.
