After living in Alaska for 20 years, I can say that driving on the ice covered, snowy roads could be extremely treacherous. The Dept of Transportation did their best to keep up with snow removal but sometimes I think the slick plowed roads were worse than the snowy covered roads prior to plowing. Worse still, were the slick covered roads piled atop with fresh snow. All in all, it was time to slow down, be diligent and listen to the road.
In Anchorage, AK, the traditional stay at home “snow days” were rare. No matter the road conditions, eventually you had to venture out and you had to be mentally equipped. It took a lot of concentration not just on what you were doing, but also in what everyone around you was doing. Most winter days the designated lanes on the roads just didn’t exist. You took whatever path you could follow that was marked out by vehicles before you and trusted that nothing would knock you off course. Don’t get me started on the people who drove like there was no snow on the road…those speed demons. You know them, you’ve seen them, you might even be them. Don’t be them!!
If you weren’t respectful and vigilant of the conditions, it sure didn’t take much for the snow to pull you into the ditch or for a slick area to spin your vehicle out of control where you held onto to the wheel for dear life praying your vehicle didn’t flip, or end up in the ditch. Worse yet, you might collide into oncoming traffic or the vehicles beside you. Chances were, if you spun out of control, someone was going with you. So on those really bad days driving my son to school, I would turn the radio off and I would tell my son that mommy needed to “listen to the road.”
That’s a lot like life with God. You have to trust that what He tells us is for our safety; our protection. His Word is our road to life and our bodies are the vehicle in which He gives us to drive. He knows the dangers life throws at us every single second of each day. His Word equips us to go out into the world, maneuver on the roads of life and keep our “tires” on the path He wants us to follow. Not because He wants us to suffer from the thing we shouldn’t do, but because He knows that if we swerve off course even a little from His commandments, that eventually, we are going to get hurt.
The enemy will take any opportunity he can get to grab onto our “tires” and pull us into a ditch. He doesn’t care that we go into the ditch, that’s exactly where he wants us. Better still if we wind up spinning out of control and taking someone else with us. That’s bonus points to him. He’s throwing his hands in the area saying “score!!” I don’t know about you, but finding myself in the ditch on more than one occasion is enough for me to know, the ditch is not where I want me or anyone else. The consequences are costly and not worth the price I’ve had to pay. Ahh…therein lies the beauty of all the ditch diving I’ve done. God was waiting for me with open arms ready to forgive and put me back on course. I had to do my part, repent, hand over the wheel, and “listen to the Road.” Now He’s doing His part, clearing the path and showing me the way home, which He’s been doing all along, but I was too busy being one of those speed demons!! Don’t be them!!
Blessed to be Broken 
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