2-23-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There. I got the pun (Rhodes Scholar, ha) off my mind. I thought today of roads real and metaphorical, partly because I am charting the itinerary of the postponed honeymoon of Mickey and me, a celebration delayed by an important book deadline, other weddings, and such. We will be taking perhaps a month to visit Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will not walk the Appian Way \u2013 an ancient road in Rome taken by St Paul to evangelize citizens in the belly of (to Christians of the day) the beast. He first proselytized at the Temple of Agrippa. We will not traverse that long road, except to visit Catacombs, but we will stand where Paul stood. This will not be a real pilgrimage \u2013 I have friends who have traced believers\u2019 pilgrimages in Europe and the Holy Land \u2013 yet we are choosing significant roads to walk on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are all familiar with Robert Frost\u2019s iconic poem The Road Not Taken<\/em> (often mis-titled The Road Less Traveled<\/em>). Whether literal or metaphorical, it opens: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood \/ And sorry I could not travel both \/ And be one traveler, long I stood \/ And looked down one as far as I could \/ To where it bent in the undergrowth\u2026 <\/em>We identify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also noted, today as I write this, that Neil Sedaka, the soft-rock star of recent decades, has died. Again: Roads. I once attended a publishing conference in Las Vegas and left so early it was morning but more like a Red Eye. In the small waiting lounge at the airport gate was Neil Sedaka, a fave from my teen years. He played Vegas a lot, and also had to fly east early that day. I introduced myself and we got to talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By a bizarre coincidence, he lived in my town, Westport CT, so we had things to chat about. When I told him that I recently had interviewed Jimmy Swaggart, Neil lit up. He was a Jew but said he had been watching Swaggart\u2019s TV services and was taken with the Gospel piano of the evangelist (who was also a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis). The door opened, so to speak, and I shared Christ with him. I never learned what impact my conversation had on him, but I often think of roads that \u201ccross\u201d in such ways in life. The best-selling book in the English language after the Bible, we are told, is John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em>, written 350 years ago, and that never has been out of print, now translated to 200 languages. The entire book traces the journey of Mr Christian (all of its characters are named by their personal traits) from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Another road\u2026 with many tempting detours to places like the Slough of Despond or Vanity Fair. It is a compelling book, with undertones by which all humans can identify. Especially about roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible itself is the source of life\u2019s roadmaps, warning signs, and directions. Scripture overflows with references to roads, paths, and ways to proceed through life. We all know how to ask strangers for directions; and many of us have GPS. That\u2019s OK to attend your cousin\u2019s retirement party, but not for God\u2019s will for our lives. He charts our paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus says the Lord: \u201cStand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a road that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I mentioned detours. Sometimes we can take alternate routes, or scenic drives, or choose to wander in some way, eventually to find our way home. That\u2019s fine, as I said, except when it comes to God\u2019s strongly stated destination. He does not allow us to stray an inch. Why would we? Yet\u2026 many do. Mr Christian was a Pilgrim, but he knew it was his duty to make progress. Not right in life, nor left; not backtracking but forward; not your own destination, but God\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On His travel plans for each of us, GPS means to stay on God\u2019s Perfect Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole Shanahan, who was on RFK Jr\u2019s ticket when he ran for president, recently confessed her conversion to Christ. The liberal former convert to Judaism spoke of a miscarriage, a near-death experience, and \u201copened eyes\u201d about forces of spiritual warfare in America. The day before Trump\u2019s inauguration she was water baptised and declared, \u201cI had to live a lot of life to understand the true significance of trusting in this covenant of Jesus\u2026. In order to fulfill a true relationship with God, it\u2019s this recognition of Jesus as the Messiah.\u201d A road with detours? Yes, but she found her destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n