Another wondrous blue sky, white clouded September Sunday. Father Sky used his light blue pastels to shade the sky this morning, grabbing a white pastel and sketching some fluffy clouds to float across the sky’s blue ocean. Mother Nature is blowing a cool breeze across the porch, ruffling Kat’s fur and pinging my wind chimes. The organ wind chimes across the street are playing their sanctuary music softly, welcoming the neighborhood to nature’s church services. The sun is warm on my face as I lay my head back on the swing chain to say a brief prayer of thanks for this beautiful day. As I pray I can hear the purple finches and cardinals singing and gathering on the feeders. I love these mornings with a touch of fall in the air.

I’m so excited about a trip to the beach in October. Oldest sister-in-law, her daughter, my dearest friend, and I are traveling to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, to visit my cousin at her beach condo. I’ve purchased the matching pajamas for all of us, a tradition my friend and I enjoy when we spend the night with each other. I’m thrilled to be going on a trip to the ocean. I’ve already got my suitcase opened on one of the beds in the grandchildren’s bedroom and have started packing.

I was talking about the trip with my friend on the phone tonight and we were talking about traveling on the interstate or traveling on the highways. Chief and I always avoided the interstates. He had a reputation for finding a way to a destination without putting wheels on the interstate. I always drove and he always navigated. I honestly think GPS would have depressed him. He loved his state maps and atlases. He always said he was “journey proud.” Chief would love this quote from Charles Kurat. “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” Love it!

I think we all have to choose, do we want to enjoy the journey or do we want to arrive at the destination as quickly as possible. I don’t think life was meant to be lived quickly. If we live our lives like the interstate we never slow down enough to see the beauty of God’s creation. Some of us just want to get there and get it over with. Some of us savor all the sights and sounds of the journey. Some of us never look out the windows of life. Life just passes quietly and then its too late to retrace the journey because it’s over.

God has already mapped out the highway of our lives. Jesus is the highway and he leads us to eternal life. In Isaiah 38 we read, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.” As we travel this holy highway, we grow in faith and learn to trust God. Our journey will not be easy and when the road gets rough we have to pray for the strength to not turn around and travel in an easier direction. They’ll be happy times and sorrowful times on our journey, flat tires and dead batteries, but we persevere and keep rolling along with God’s grace.

The highway to heaven narrows as we follow God’s teaching. When we come to a fork in the road or a detour on the highway we need to make a determined decision to follow the path of Jesus, make a commitment to stay on the righteous path. “The gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it,” Matthew 7:14.

Make a conscious decision to always stay on God’s highway, trusting in God to show you the way. He will take care of us when the roads get hazardous. He will lead us to eternal life and when we reach our final destination we’ll hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

“The road may be rough, the journey may be tough and the experience may be bitter, but they are stepping stones to our future thrones.” ― Bamigboye Olurotimi