Crossroads

Crossroads. What are they and how do we best approach them? They are more than just intersections or junctions. They are points in your destination-to-somewhere where the straight, visible, clearly defined or generally expected lines ahead of you break into a collection of choices. The one-way-only guidelines that you had been following may remain but variable lines suddenly appear that trail off in different unknown directions, making the path suddenly confusing or at the very least, unsettling. A crossroad should cause you to slow down. Maybe even stop…because the auto-pilot that our lives often operate with cannot be readily banked on here. So how do we determine which way to proceed? There must be an optimal way. Or maybe a couple of ways combined.

I would like to think that I am someone who can embrace change and progress, particularly when the benefits outweigh the losses. Let me give you an example. The first usage that my GPS got a few years back was to get me to an evening service in Cambridge in a community, a neighborhood and a building I had never been to before. I traveled routes and roads I’d never taken. I came to innumerable crossroads. I totally depended on the GPS for my every move. But as I mentioned I had never actually used it before, so the articulation and timing of each automated, staccato instruction were so unfamiliar to me that I was frequently too quick or too delayed in my response to following them. This of course caused me to have to depend on the GPS to recalculate to get me back on track. Despite all the twists, turns, stops, starts, and even back-ups (for me and for those unlucky enough to be behind me) that this created I did arrive at my desired destination. But in truth, my mind had no recall of how I got there. I was devoid of any sense of direction, because the entire process had been one of blindly waiting on and trusting a programmed voice. There were no sequential pictures in my mind, so when it was time to return home later, my dependency on the GPS was even greater until I was back in familiar territory. Because my reasoning had not gotten me there, it seemed unlikely that I could get myself out, so I was very grateful for that GPS.

However, this totally conflicted with my normal way of traveling and finding my way. For more than 25 years my job required me to travel daily to homes in more than 20 communities within Massachusetts. Most of those years were before GPS, Mapquest, or even decent road maps of remote neighborhoods ever existed. I relied on the directions of strangers, postal carriers, police officers, gas station attendants and teenagers who couldn’t describe where they lived. But mostly I depended on a developing sense of direction, remembered routes, landmarks, accurate signs and prayer. In combination they all proved valuable and trustworthy, and made me feel more conscious of my surroundings along each journey.

My intention here is not to dispute or support the wonders of GPS or other outdated but creditable time-tested methods. It is meant to help determine what means to best use at the crucial crossroads of life.

In a sense, God is a bit like our GPS. Similar to the GPS satellites, He sees the whole area. It’s already mapped out. He wants to begin guiding us to our pre-destined point before we even have a clue what address to type in for our lives. And so at times He wishes we would just keep moving cautiously forward, trusting solely in Him, waiting for and then listening closely for His next instruction before taking any undue turns.

Along the way though, He also desires for us to get our own bearings, to be cognizant of our setting, our backdrop, our background and our backups, our landmarks and our milestones. In other words He wants us to use what He has put in us while we trust Him with the unknowns.

Some wonderful scripture verses that back both of these approaches are found in Job 22:

²¹ “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.
²² Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored…
²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
²⁸ What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.

And in Job 23:10 it says,

¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

A crossroads strategy might best be illustrated by a cross. The vertical piece can prompt us to keep our focus on the straightforward guidance we get from above. The horizontal part can be a reminder that where we have been, the innate sense of the destiny direction our Designer gave us, the help of trusted people, our own and others’ historical markers, significant signposts, the peace found in the familiar, and joyfully taking in new landscapes all have a part in deciding which way to turn at the crossroads of life.

Seems to me that the way through life, and the way to life will always be by way of the CROSS.

Gratefully HIS,

Jan