Our little family loves to explore! When a vacation is planned we don’t simply go…NO NO NO! We buy books and research the area. We find out-of-the-way places and little known areas of awesomeness. I mean, who else can say they’ve been coast to coast…in the upper Peninsula of Michigan? (Which I actually wouldn’t recommend. The “awesome” is few and far, far, far between!)
Last summer on the BIG family vacation to Michigan’s Drummond Island, we lead an adventure escapade to the Fossil Flats. It all started out on a narrow road that got narrower and narrower and bumpier and bumpier! The BIG family wasn’t too happy with our adventure, but we loved it and made epic memories we still laugh about!
Our family also loves to hunt waterfalls. We have Tim Ernst’s Arkansas Waterfall book and it inspires us! We read and reread the directions he gives as we navigate the narrow back roads. There are a few “drive-by” waterfalls around, but trust me…the good ones are usually at the end of a narrow, narrow road.
It seems, to see the really good stuff, you have to exit the highway. You have to leave the wide, paved road.
We’ve all heard thousands of sermons in our lifetimes, but most likely only a few have truly been memorable. I still remember a particular sermon by Pastor Marc Lien. He was talking about the wide road and the narrow road. He asked why the narrow road was narrow? Why do only a few find it? He had us going the entire sermon, until finally, someone blurted out the obvious. It’s narrow because there’s only one way to be on it. Jesus is the way. The only way. HE IS the narrow road. Turns out, all roads don’t lead to the best stuff! The wide, paved roads just won’t get you there.
Sometimes, this narrow road gets bumpy. Sometimes we wonder if it will ever end. Sometimes, we think, “this can’t be the way…Tom, you’ve taken a wrong turn.” Ok…maybe that last part is just me. Sometimes, as we’re choking on dust, we wish for that wide, paved road. But we must follow the Map. We must read and reread the directions. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The Narrow Road will take us to something far greater than a good waterfall. The Narrow Road will take us home!
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