The Road Less Travelled By

“The Road Less Travelled By” written by Robert Frost is one of my favorite poems. I especially love the last three lines:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

I wonder why in the poem the less travelled road made all the difference to the person. I suppose the answer is irrelevant. I suppose the point is that being the road less travelled there was something present that the road had to offer the traveler—something good.

Following Jesus is like that.  Being a disciple of Jesus makes an eternal  difference in our lives as it is the road less travelled by—even in today’s world of relativism and intolerance (in spite of all the vocalized views for tolerance).

Jesus said,

“Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 CEB

But we are able to find the gate/road to eternal life.  It’s not a hopeless pursuit. 

There was a time in my life as a younger Christian when I wanted to give up being a Christian--not because I no longer believed God existed or that Jesus was no longer my Savior. I was worn out. I was tired. Tired of struggling with sin. Tired of wrestling with myself and Satan. Tired of watching people fight. And I thought that if I gave up, then I wouldn't have to wrestle anymore. Life would be easier. 

But I knew I was wrong in my so called logic. And I knew that I was struggling with following Satan's lies--the easy road. 

Jesus also said,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  --John 14:1-6 NIV

I knew that if I gave up on God, what that consequence would be. That, and Ed Wharton's class on Christian evidences was very convicting for me to remain faithful. Life with God is far better than a life without Him--in this world and in the next. And so Jesus is that gate through which we must pass. 

And so for Christians, following Jesus is the road less traveled. God gave us grace through Jesus. He took a hard road to bring us eternal life. I don't imagine it was easy for Jesus. He was tempted, and yet was without sin. He probably wrestled with His humanity. He fought Satan. He watched people fight. And yet He endured because He knew what He was going through was worth it to save us. And He knew that life with God was far better than a life without Him. And for us. So Jesus understands how rough life it at times. 

And so He died for us. I don't know of any other "god" that has done that for people. 

Jesus took the road less travelled by--and that has made all the eternal difference. 

-Jewel Melton

AIM 2002, Croatia

Psalm 126

Leland Grammer, AIM '04, San Diego, is a poet, and when I was telling him about the blog, he said he could pass me something. And here it is. Thank you, Leland, for shaking things up a little, and I hope we can have more things like this in the future.

***

Psalm 126

WHEN THE LORD BROUGHT BACK THE CAPTIVE ONES TO ZION, WE WERE LIKE THOSE WHO DREAM

Unable to sleep, wild-eyed with visions of earth-turning possibilities. We saw the Messiah speaking marvelous things from the mountainside, of a kingdom enchanting us to love our enemy and beat our swords into plowshares to feed the hungry at our tables. Next, we saw our very hands hoisting a cross up, our deliverer fastened by nails, and I couldn’t understand. Then he rose to life. Surely, now we know, there is something worth dying for and nothing worth killing for. Sights so strange and illuminating, they drifted on the edge of absurdity. Silence only made us giddy.

THEN OUR MOUTH WAS FILLED WITH LAUGHTER AND OUR TONGUE WITH JOYFUL SHOUTING.

All along the road home from exile and in our great city’s streets, people would stand and stare, as if we were walking through the red sea again. From every crowd someone would raise their voice
exclaiming,

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR THEM.

It became so common, we would simply shout back,

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US, WE ARE GLAD.

At which point we would turn to each other and smile knowingly.
Time slowly lurched forward. The elation slipped from my brow and nightfall found me with handfuls of salty tears, as I thought about my nation, my city, my own village. So filled with ego, inflated with an unquenchable rumbling for more and eyes forever flitting toward shame. My Creator, my God of cosmic impossibilities, You have been reduced to a trinket in our surplus gift shop. One phrase loops inside me.

RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY, O LORD. RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY. RESTORE OUR CAPTIVITY, LIKE STREAM BEDS.

Turn the ever-changing wilderness of our moody heart into inhabitable dwelling places.
This is the legacy of my Ancestors. This is the story my father spoke of to me. And as I look out my window, momentarily lost in the blue white canopy, I recall all that the Lord has done for me and where he has brought me from. When I look out over this time called America, not much has changed behind the wizard’s curtain of the twenty-first century, with it’s cars and technological advancements. I see the pride, the wanting of it all, the scandal of my father’s ancient city. Aggressive and judgmental I want to say ‘Wake me when I’m free, I cannot bear captivity.’ Then a tear catches my eye as I hear my mother say, as if the very words were ringing in my ears,

THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL REAP WITH JOYFUL SHOUTING.

And she would hand me a bag of seed and add, ‘Today…small things with great love.’
My days in the field and the sweat spent toiling with rows and rows of dirt are now concrete and people with their own plot. So I tell the children on my block,

HE WHO COMES AND GOES WEEPING, CARRYING HIS BAG OF SEED WILL COME AGAIN WITH A SHOUT OF JOY, BRINGING HIS BUNDLES WITH HIM.

Now every morning before I go out I cram every pocket and stuff my mouth with mustard seeds. Another world is possible. It whispers to us. Love is more powerful than hatred. Violence can be mirrored without imitation. There is enough for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed. The struggle is a gentle revolution that dances on the laughter of children. Delicate dreamers, of such pure nonsense, that the good news of one man could actually erase the entire shoreline of humanity’s bad news.

Terrible

I got a Facebook message the other day that simply said, “Wow. I had no idea the things you had done in your life were so terrible.” I sat staring at the message wondering to myself, “What exactly are they talking about, and who have they been talking to?” There was a website that followed the message, and of course, I clicked on it.

My computer slowly loaded the page and to my horror this is what I saw:


TOTALTRANSGRESSIONTAX.com

Paige Foreman 1972 – present
Member since 1989 … last payment June 1989
Current amount owed: $945,678,945,985.89

I sat staring at the screen for what seemed like hours. I barely remembered opening this account. How could I have forgotten about it?

My mind began to wander back to 1989. I was in high school and had begun doing some very stupid things. I was having fun and figured when the fun ran out I would move on. But around June of that year, I realized I was stuck. I had already gotten into some pretty serious trouble and lost several friends.

I was talking to someone about moving on and trying to get my life back on track. He suggested this website: totaltransgressiontax.com . This was a website that allowed you to submit your sins before a panel. They assessed the price and you began making payments. As long as you were actively making payments then the interest was low and you were assured complete privacy. However, if you stopped making payments, the amount would begin to go up by the second and your past was fair game. Anyone could enter the site and take a peek around… anyone.

I had actually gotten baptized right after joining the site and making my first payment. I had accepted God’s forgiveness and realized I didn’t need to make those payments. Jesus paid it all in full, and God had forgotten my transgressions. He was not keeping score.

Unfortunately, the website was.

***

So, the above is a dream I had last night. I woke up feeling horrible. I felt a level of fear, guilt, and shame that I have not felt in years. Thankfully, as I woke up I came back to reality. Not only is there not a website… there’s not a price that I must pay. That price is not going up by the second and every internet user doesn’t have access to my shame. Nope.

Reality is… Jesus paid it once for all and then it was forgotten. I am free. I have hope!!! That hope is secure!!!

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” Rom. 4:7,8

-Paige Foreman

The Audacity of Hope-lessness

Audacity— n 1. recklessly bold or daring; fearless 2. impudent or presumptuous

I like the word audacity. It’s one of those brutal words. When applied to other people’s behavior, just saying it makes you feel a little outraged. Try it sometime. After you hear something that someone has done that you wouldn’t have done, add “The audacity”. It is linguistic outrage; pure complainers bliss.

Anyway, I have recently encountered a lot of people that will make statements like, “this church will never get it” or “my life is going nowhere”. Maybe you’ve heard yourself say this one: “things will never be as good as they were in Mexico or Ecuador or Scotland or…”. I think we all have had these types of thoughts. It occurred to me recently that when I say this I mean it to be a declaration of my helplessness to do anything about it, but that is really not what I’m saying. What I’m really saying is this, “In my superior wisdom, that comes from all my combined experiences and perceptions, and with my ability to know all things about the future, I declare that ___________________ will never improve. Therefore I am hopeless about it and will stop trying, praying or believing.” When you really think about it, that is truly audacious. It is the audacity of hopelessness.

The thing I believe we often miss when reading the stories of our spiritual ancestors, like Moses or Deborah, is that they were constantly led into situations that seemed hopeless. We, of course, often have God’s bird’s eye view so we don’t perceive it in this way, but from their vantage point it was hopeless. The problem with hopelessness is that once you declare something you stop hoping. I know that is obvious, but hope is the God-given promise that whatever it is that you are focusing on will improve. By declaring hopelessness you dis-invite God from using you to affect that situation. God will still do what He wants, but you cut yourself out of the loop and therefore miss out on the blessing. This is not to say that you have to stay in every bad situation. God sometimes uses bad situations to move us in new directions, but we still need to have hope towards that situation.

Our goal, despite any frustrations we have or circumstances we may find ourselves in, is to anchor ourselves in God’s hope. My prayer for all of us is this: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

- Jason Thornton