Homer is the end of the road south on the Kenai Peninsula and is sometimes called the westernmost point you can reach on the continent by road. Actually, Anchor Point has that distinction. Nevertheless, tourists and locals alike make their way to Homer every year to see the sights and catch some fish.
I looked out a church window towards the driveway and saw a unique sight. The wind the previous day blew leaves off the trees into the driveway, almost covering it completely. The leaves cast a bright yellow and gold hue to the driveway. Two roadways came to mind; “the yellow brick road” to the land of Oz and the “streets of pure gold” promised in heaven. The leaves didn’t exactly resemble either one, just made me think of them. The first is fictional and metaphoric, the other a promise to believers in Jesus Christ.
Roads have been written about, sung about, and dreamed of for many generations. A popular group in the 70s wrote and sang of a “Long and Winding Road”. That title has application to a lot of situations; love, health, and recovery, career, education, spiritual life, and growth, etc.
Jesus spoke of two roadways, a narrow way, and a broad way. The number that travel each way and the end result varies greatly. The broad way has many travelers but ends in destruction. The narrow way has few wayfarers but it leads to life. Finding the roadway to life is the challenge. It is not so difficult or different as to be beyond recognition. It has to be a priority.
Robert Frost wrote of taking the road “less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Jesus Christ can make a tremendous difference in our lives and destiny. His creative power can make a “new creature” of those who believe in him. I’m glad Jesus didn’t make the way difficult or hard to comprehend. He could have complicated things to such a degree that only a few will find it. However, that is not so. “Whosoever will” is the open invitation to all who want to journey his way.
“I am the way,” Jesus simply declared.
He became the way to spiritual fulfillment by specific actions. His blood was shed on the cross as “a ransom for many”. His name is the way to “remission of sins” after repentance. The “supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ” is a continuous presence of the Comforter. Obeying his word brings a new birth and new life.
Jesus promised to prepare a place when he told of many mansions in his Father’s house. He said, “If it were not so, I would have told you.” His promise to prepare a place for believers is not a legend or fairy tale.
The yellow and gold leaf-covered driveway that looked so pretty is now just brown, crumbly leaves scattered here and there. Such is the nature of temporal things. Makes me want to hold on even more to the promise of streets of gold, walls of jasper, the crystal sea, gates of pearl, and most of all, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.