Down The Road

Believe it or not I love cars! They are sort of my thing I guess you could say. I don't know anything about the engine and couldn't tell you the difference between a gear and a rotor but when it comes to the design, the smoothness of the lines, the position of the lights, the interior, the wheels and just the general package of a car I'm hooked. I can tell you the make and model of a car just by looking at the headlights or tail lights. And, even sometimes, I can give you a general idea of the year of the car.

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This "talent" drives my family crazy because as we drive down the road I'm constantly saying "Honda Civic" or "GMC Yukon" or "Mercedes M-Class." They always reply with "Mom! Shut up!" (ha ha) I just watch all the cars on the road all the time. I look at every little detail of them and tuck it away in that odd little place in my brain. Kristina jokes with me and says that when I'm old and senile I will walk around mumbling to everyone in the nursing home the make and model of different cars.

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But, the one thing I have noticed about cars is they remind me of people. You always have a car on the road that is a little beat up and bruised. It looks as if it should be in a junk yard somewhere but it just won't give up and die. It keeps pushing ahead and puttering right along and it's scars are visible to everyone who looks at it.

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Then, there are vehicles that have an identity crisis. I mean they don't know if they are a SUV or a truck. Should they haul something or hold a lot of people? They have no clue so they just zip in and out of traffic trying to hang out with the big crowd but knowing all the while they just don't measure up.

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Occasionally you see a really nice vehicle. It has all the bells and whistles but it was purchased by the wrong person and it just doesn't fit. It has to speed along the highway acting as if it is something that it is not. It isn't quite sure how to fit in with the other cars because it doesn't even know where it belongs.

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The big ole tractor trailer trucks always make me stop and look. They push through traffic like a bunch of bullies. They don't look when they merge onto the highway because they know you will move over because let's face it, they are bigger than you. They blow their horns and smoke up the air. And, although we are thankful that we have the big trucks to get the job done I just sometimes wonder if things would be a little better without so many of them.

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And then you have my favorite. The "normal" crowd. These cars are either gas savers or old classics. Their owners are just typical people who are trying to earn a living. They use their blinkers daily with pride and they stop to allow someone to merge in front of them. They always have cute signs on their bumper and you always know what college team they are pulling for.

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But, the one thing that I have begun to notice about cars is that no matter what they look like, where they are from or where they are going; they are all traveling down the same thing...a road. And, get this, we have always been traveling down the same road. Back when people used horse drawn carriages they did so by traveling down a dirt road. If you go back to before horse and buggy days to where people walked everywhere they went; they still walked on a path or road that was designed for that purpose. We may think we have come a long way in society but the truth of the matter is we are all still traveling down a road that was designed by someone else.

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God laid out a road for each of us with great detail and design. Psalm 119:105 says "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." He did not intend for us to travel this road ill equipped or alone. He gave us headlights (his word!) and he gave us street lights (fellow Christians!). It doesn't matter what your vehicle looks like. It doesn't even matter if your vehicle knows where it fits into the crowd. The thing that does matter is that we don't end up on a dead end street or a side road that leads to nowhere. We must consciously make a decision to be on the right road....God's road!