Follow the directions. That’s what we are always told to do. Directions
will help us move along the right path, go the right speed, notice “dangers” along
the way, and move safely from one place to the other. Once in awhile, however,
signs are wrong, they don’t help us….they confuse us! I was traveling Highway
52 from Lexington to Winston-Salem last week when I came to signs-----one
facing the left lane, one facing the right. As I went past them I noticed that the
one on the left said, “Left lane closed ahead.” The one on the right said, “Right
lane closed ahead.” Well, imagine that! I thought to myself, “I hope there is an
open field we can drive through.”
I know somebody simply made a mistake, and that both signs were
supposed to say “right lane” closed ahead. But that is not what happened.
Someone blundered. That’s just a common mistake, we say. After all, we are
only human. That is true, but there are times when our very lives depend on the
accuracy of others. When traveling 70 miles an hour in a car, you need to know
which lane ahead will be closed. Do I need to shift to the left lane, or the right
lane? Directions matter! They count. Lives can weigh in the balance of
directions.
I’ve never forgotten that when my Aunt Sarah (who at the time lived in
Miami Springs, Florida) went to get her driver’s license for the first time. She was
a grown woman with a husband and a little boy. She passed the written test, but
then came the challenge----the driving test! As one of the Examiners rode with
her for the “driving” test, they began down a little hill. At the bottom of the hill the
road forked. Aunt Sarah asked the Examiner, “Which way do you want me to
go?” He said, “I don’t care.” As they got closer to the fork Aunt Sarah asked him
again, “Which way do you want me to go?” The Examiner responded, “I don’t
care. You choose.” Well, Aunt Sarah was so overwhelmed by this decision that
she went straight…..right into a rock wall. Suffice it to say, she did not pass the
driving test that time around.
When we need directions, we need directions. And when someone gives
them to us we need to follow them. And if no one gives them to us, we need to
use common sense. God has given us all sorts of directions for life. Jesus
taught us so many of them. The Talmud has taught us others. These are
ultimate directions----ultimate truths----for life that we must follow. Otherwise we
will wind up out in a field or meeting a rock wall.
