Have I mentioned that we’ve had lots of rain here recently? As anyone who has spent any significant time on dirt roads can tell you, the inevitable low spots in the road can become puddles, swimming holes, or mud pits in no time at all. The dirt roads on our island can all testify to this fact, which makes driving somewhat of a challenge.
Most people here drive around in golf carts. Not exactly the sort of vehicle that comes to mind when you think about navigating down muddy dirt roads and around or through puddles. Therefore, driving can become a bit of an exercise in the aftermath of a significant downpour. But, of course, not all experiences on the road are equal.
For example, there might be a puddle that only occupies half of the road, allowing drivers to simply travel on the drier side and avoid the puddle completely. In other places, the puddle might extend across almost the entire road, but there’s enough exposed dry road to at least let one side of the vehicle stay out of the puddle. In these two instances, while the driver may need to slow down or even wait if there’s opposing traffic, continuing along towards your desired destination isn’t a problem.
But sometimes the puddle spans the entire road, and there’s simply no way that you can keep out of the water if you want to keep going. Since most golf carts ride fairly low to the ground, it also becomes reasonable to wonder whether or not your vehicle can actually make it through the water. Sometimes people don’t bother asking that question, and they just plow through the water and continue on their way. Yet there are others who aren’t so lucky, and find themselves stranded in the middle of a lake that was deeper than they thought. As for those who stopped before driving into the puddle, they may decide that the prudent course of action is to turn around and seek another route.
We face puddles of a different sort nearly every day in our lives. There are problems that we can navigate around with just a minor course correction, some problems that we may need to slow down for a moment to successfully get past, and then some larger problems that we really should spend some time considering before attempting to get through them. In our haste or inexperience, we may try blasting through those problems at full speed, but at some point, we’re likely to learn the hard way that we should respect the magnitude of the issue and give it thoughtful consideration.
In Acts Chapter 16, we read that the Apostle Paul and his companions were blocked by the Holy Spirit from entering Asia. That must have been an enormous puddle! Yet sometimes we simply aren’t prepared to go where we want to go, or God simply wants us to take a different route, so things come up in our life that force us to follow another route. The Holy Spirit blocked Paul, and He will block us on occasion as well.
Friends, if you find yourself facing a puddle today that spans the entire road, consider carefully whether you can and should continue through it. It may be a hurdle that you are meant to navigate, but it may also be a barrier that is intended to send you in a different direction. Might I suggest prayer and wisdom?
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron