by The girl that I had been talking with on the road to the furnace pulled me onto a rocky road that ran somewhat parallel to the main road. I could see all the people that I had been walking with all my life. I could also see all the people that I thought had disappeared.
We started to walk in the same direction, yet this terrain was much more difficult. I didn’t quite know what to say. It puzzled me that I had been walking all this way without knowing His plan. I looked again
at the people and waved. No one looked my way. “That’s odd.”
“What?”
“Well, I waved, but no one saw me.”
“You are changed, and they don’t understand.”
“But I see them fine.” We continued to walk as I puzzled over this. “Ouch!”
“What happened?”
“I tripped over a root.”
“This path is not easy.” She stated. I looked ahead, for as we walked I could see things in the distance more clearly.
“How are we ever going to walk this path?!”
“Following His way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at the ground.” I looked. “What do you see?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“The path, though dim, is marked out for us. If we follow His way then we will be all right. Once we depart from His way, our progress toward our goal will be slowed.”
“But it looks as though this way is hard. I mean, there are roots, rocks, and all sorts of stuff. Wouldn’t it just be easier to walk on that road that I was walking on, but know where to get off when we get closer?”
“For now the roads seem parallel, but the more you follow His way, the more you realize how different they actually are. Our own way seems easy and offers easy walking. It looks like we have everything all
planned out, but it this that leads us to destruction. See…” The girl said pointing. I looked to people in pain for following their own way. They were thirsty, lonely, and miserable.
“I see what you mean.” I stated, as we walked on the path. “There’s just one question I have.”
“You mean one more question you have.”
“Okay, one more question. How did I see you?”
“You were seeking the answer. He has chosen many to come out from their way and to pursue Him. When you decided to find out what was going on and what your destiny was, I could be seen. That’s part of
our job. Not to give up trying to reach those people in their own way, and be there when He is at work in their lives.”
“Wow. This is getting to be quite a heavy task to bear.”
“He paid the price of His own life to get us on a way that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. We owe our whole life to Him.”
“But you’d think that the way would be easier. I mean, we are doing that which is right, aren’t we.”
“Yes, be we, ourselves, are not wholly right, and in order to teach us to be more like Him there are pitfalls and perils, like this one here…” She stopped the sentence as we neared the edge of a pit. I looked down. Picking up a rock, I tossed it down to see how deep it was.
“Must we go down there? I mean, wouldn’t it just be easier to go on that road over there for just this once?”
“Do you want His way or your way?” I looked at her, the easy way, and then back at her. She started to lower herself into the pit, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I walked out of the bushes, but as I put my foot on my own way, people started to laugh, and my feet felt hot. My conscience bothered me, for I knew that I was going the wrong way. I looked back at His way, and returned to it. I started to lower myself into the pit, asking for forgiveness for my stupidity.
God’s way is not our way. Neither are His thoughts our thoughts. As growing Christians we must strive to follow Him with all of our heart. Wherever He leads, that’s where we should follow. Wherever He goes, that’s where we should go. If He stays, that’s where we should stay. He asked us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Is that too much of a price to pay for the one who paid the price for our sins with His own life?
