Do you know where you are going?

When I was 8 years old I was on my own one evening when dad was at work, mom was shopping and my sisters were with friends.  I didn't mind, it gave me a chance to do some exploring. We lived in the mountains in a little community surrounded by forest.  But through the forest and down the mountain there was a fair sized town with bright lights, 3 movie theaters, a couple of donut shops and a Sears and Roebucks department store.  All of this was only a mile and a half away.

So I headed for the forest path that led down the mountain and found myself in the "big" city.  Though is was only half an hour from home, it seemed like a completely different world. The mixture of bright lights, the sound of metal trolley wheels clanging along their tracks, and the aroma of Coney Island hot dogs and fresh donuts was... intoxicating, but disorienting.  Time passed quickly and by the time I was ready to head home, night had fallen.

The forest was dark and the path seemed invisible.  I stood at the edge of the darkness waiting for my eyes to adjust, but the trees created a thick canopy that shrouded the light of the moon and the stars. I was afraid of the dark, but even more afraid of getting home after my parents were home.  So I blocked out the sounds of the forest by talking to myself, Out Loud, and slowly made my way along the path until I was safely home.

It was many years before I understood the significance of that night. Much more than the scary experience of a young child, it became an important paradigm for how to find the way through the darkness.

Jesus said there is a narrow way that leads to life and a wide way that leads to destruction.  As a child I thought of these as two separate pathways that moved in different directions.  One was narrow, but unmistakeable.  The other was so wide is would be hard to miss.  Simple!  Just take the narrow way and everything will be okay.

But my experience in the forest that night offered a more accurate picture of the narrow way that leads to life.  It doesn't go around the forest, but right through the forest.  And the narrow way can be hard to see because the forest is often dark.  

So how do we keep to the narrow way that leads to life?  Be alert: whatever intoxicates also distorts and disorients.  Be faithful: we walk by faith and not by sight.  Be persistent: stay on course and finish the race. Be  courageous: "It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."  And never walk alone!