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Journey of a Lifetime

by Jerry Ousley  
12/17/2010 / Holidays

Journeys can be very fun or very dangerous. I remember a journey my son, Jeremy and I took one winter. He was a senior in high school and had been accepted into Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. We live in southern Indiana about thirty-five miles due north of Louisville, Kentucky. Valparaiso is in northern Indiana about fifty miles from Chicago, Illinois. Under normal circumstances (and by normal I mean warm weather suitable for traveling) the trip took about four to five hours. However, it was in the middle of the winter. The reason for the journey was that an orientation had been scheduled. It wasn't mandatory but he really wanted to attend.

He and I had planned to go but frankly it began snowing that day. The more it snowed the more I didn't want to go and tried to talk him out of it. But as I said, he really wanted to go. Deb, Megan and one of Deb's sisters had been shopping that day and we had to wait until they got home so we could drive the better car. If I remember correctly it was about four o'clock that afternoon before they arrived home, which meant (again under normal circumstances) that it would be eight or nine o'clock that evening before we arrived. We had reserved a motel but I was more than willing to cancel. When they got home he still wanted to go even though it hadn't stopped snowing, so we went.

The trip wasn't too bad until we got north of Indianapolis. It was beginning to get dark and then the snow increased. The road conditions grew worse and worse and consequently so did the highway. We slowed down, way down. Now I've got to tell you that I don't take chances on slick roads. The Interstate speed limit was seventy miles per hour, but folks, old grandpa Jerry here was only going about half that speed. The goal was to get there, not to get there quickly. I always figured that it was better to get there late than not to get there at all!

For certain it was a "white knuckle" trip. The road would get nearly clear for a couple of miles, then we'd hit a stretch of nothing but pure ice. If it hadn't have been so treacherous it would have been nearly comical. When we'd get to the stretches that weren't so bad the traffic would speed up to seventy plus. But not us; nooooo, we stayed at grandpa speed because we never knew when we'd suddenly hit one of those bad stretches. When we did many of those vehicles that had passed us were now off the road on either side. We didn't count but I'd bet during the course of the trip we passed one hundred vehicles or more that had spun off the road because they didn't want to reduce their speed. It was nearly midnight but we arrived at our motel where my son had to pry my cold stiff fingers from the steering wheel. But we made it!

In the Christmas story Mary and Joseph took one of those "white knuckle" trips. She was due to deliver the child Jesus at any time. Wouldn't you know it, the Roman Emperor, Caesar, issued a mandatory tax that required everyone in the Roman Empire to travel to the city of their birth to be registered. You can read the story in Luke 2:1-5. I call it a "white knuckle" trip because not only did they have to be careful in her delicate condition but they had to watch out for bandits, snakes, wild animals and all kinds of treacherous dangers to travel from Nazareth, located in northern Israel, to Bethlehem, located in southern Israel. Joseph walked while Mary road on the back of a donkey. It wasn't an easy journey. I'm certain that they were tempted to complain about the situation. Isn't it just like the government to make such a requirement with no consideration for the people?

But behind the scenes this trip was ordered by God Himself. He had moved the Roman Emperor to do this so as to navigate the couple to the place spoken of in prophecy as the city of birth of the Messiah. It all worked out for the good but isn't it wonderful that God orchestrated the moving of an entire empire for the sake of a poor, insignificant couple?

This Christmas realize that God has things under control for those who are called His people. It may seem as though everything is going wrong. It may seem as though the roof is caving in on you. But just as He took care of this poor couple, He is also taking care of us.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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