The road less traveled

The other day I went biking out into the countryside around Oakland, and is typical for me when I came to a decision about where to go next I tried to choose a road that I hadn't traveled yet. Now these weren't roads but no one had traveled, rather they were established gravel roads or sometimes just minimum maintenance farm roads like in the picture above, but they were roads that I'd never taken.

For me this is the spice of life, mainly experiencing something new: a road to take, a new person to meet, a new task to undertake, a new food to eat, a new culture to experience. Often this involves taking risk, and sometimes it doesn't pan out and you spend 3 hours digging your vehicle out of a snow bank. But for the most part I have to say that all the new experiences have continued to help me grow. They help me to see the variety of God's creation, they help me to learn where the boundaries of my abilities are, they help me to expand my horizons about what is possible, and frankly they often help me to test my trust in God rather than to live in fear of what might happen. 

This morning I read John 16:33 "I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” When I face moments of testing, trial, suffering, or fear, even if they are self induced, I can remember but God has conquered the world and that I can run back to him at any time. His grace and his goodness give me confidence. I'm like a little child who knows that his daddy loves him, and even when he's broken his own toy can bring it to Daddy. God doesn't always fix the problem in this world as we want him to, but he can always fix us. He can give us peace and joy no matter what the circumstance, because we can have hope that he has overcome the world and He is in the process of reconciling all things to himself.

I want to encourage you the next time you go out on a walk, or a drive, or have to do a new thing at work, or have to face a new challenge like an illness, or have to repent of something sinful that you've done, that you take the road less traveled and trust God as he walks with you through whatever new experience you're having.