Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Road Disappeared! Or Did It?

Newcomers to Colorado are often awestruck by the drive across the state on I-70. If you ARE from Colorado, it tends to become just another trip back and forth over "the hill."

By David Herrera from Albuquerque, NM, Bernalillo [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

We went over to Denver and back (a three-hour drive each way) on Monday to accompany our grandson to the zoo and the aquarium for his 2nd birthday. This was the first time I've gone as a passenger, with an iPhone and access to Google maps. I spent much of the drive staring at my tiny phone screen, watching our little blue blip cruise along the road. On the return trip, as we climbed the mountain toward the Eisenhower Tunnel, which takes you over the Continental Divide, I saw this... can you tell me what's wrong with this picture?


If you didn't know better (and you're the adventurous type) you might start lacing up your boots and throwing on your cape for a little "Sound of Music" hiking action.

If you're a 'fraidy cat, you might panic, shriek at the driver to stop, and insist on turning around and going back the way you came, convinced there is no way across.

However, as we were fairly confident that a large stretch of I-70 hadn't vanished overnight, we kept driving. And the road turned into the tunnel, and brought us through to the other side. There was a plan, and there was provision made for that plan.

And it reminded me of this...
For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor 5:7 NKJV
It's easy to become consumed by our limited perspective and forget that we serve a God who sees all and knows all and has already prepared a path for us that will lead us to our appointed destination. 
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10 NKJV
Things in this world are not always as they appear, and that's especially true when you're looking at a man-made map. What looks like a dead end may actually be a tunnel. What looks like a well-defined superhighway may turn out to be little more than a single lane four-wheel drive/cow path (we've had THAT experience, too, but I was too terrified to take pictures.)

The point is, faith doesn't require visual confirmation on some map or schedule or program. 

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 NIV
Faith IS the confirmation.
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 Amp.

Like Indiana Jones stepping out into mid-air, only to find solid ground under his feet. 


Or the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepping into the Jordan during flood season and watching the waters part before them. 

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. Joshua 3:15-16 NIV
You might be at one of those uncertain, uncomfortable, awkward places in your life where you're looking at the circumstances and you're tempted to quit, to doubt, to turn around and go back the way you came. You might even be asking, "Are you sure, God?" But before you give up, stop and ask your all-seeing Heavenly Father for His perspective. It's probably a lot different than the tiny little screen you've been looking at!



Niki Turner is a writer, former pastor's wife, mother of four, and grandmother of two. She has thus far been unsuccessful at coming up with catchy taglines for her writing, her purpose in life, or what she hopes to achieve in the future. Suggestions are welcome.

10 comments:

  1. This is so good, Niki. If you'd written this before last Monday, I could have referred to it in my post, Calgary Tower: A Family Celebration where we talk about having the faith to walk out on a glass floor.

    I'd forgotten about this scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Such a perfect example. Thank you for the video.

    Anita.

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  2. Oh, you're right, Anita! Both posts do tie in well together. Faith analogies abound around here. :)
    And you're welcome for the video. A little Harrison Ford as Indy on a Thursday is always a nice bonus!

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  3. I've also looked at Google Earth and wondered what was going on, most recently when I was checking out the hotel in Calgary and saw the C-Train station nearby, but then the track stopped. Nothing.

    However, a few weeks previous I'd been curious about the layout for the Chunnel entrance in Britain and from that I saw where it looks like tracks just disappear but some were going under the English Channel and others ran alongside the shore. I figured the latter ones were tunnels under the cliffs of Dover.

    Having remembered that, I searched farther ahead on the Calgary map and found another spot where the same thing happened. When I used a ruler, it all lined up.

    I never thought of it for highways in the Rockies, though. Thanks!

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  4. Okay, now you've made me homesick. Multiple upon multiple times, I've seen that view as passenger and driver. Oh how I miss the Rockies *sigh*.

    do like the living by faith and not by what is seen post. always a good reminder.

    now, i'm going to go back for another gaze at my home state and sigh...

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  5. DebH, where did you live in Colorado???

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  6. I love that scene. Amazing and true. :)

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  7. That was a rather 'from way high up' view of your travel route, Niki.

    (I hope the zoo was worth the 6 hrs plus... in the car!)

    Thank you for another reminder of walking by faith, and another way to look at these verses.

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  8. Great post, Niki! Thank you for sharing the scriptures. I love them.

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  9. Inspiring analogy! Thanks, Niki. It's always good to see spiritual concepts illustrated in such a pracitcal manner.

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  10. sorry about the late reply, Niki. been traveling. but I'm a Denver native. yup. born and raised in South Denver. i'm the only family member to migrate elsewhere. brothers live in Frederick and Kersey (just east of Greeley).

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