Recently my wife and I snuck off of the island for a few days and headed up to the Great Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. The difference between the topography of the Lowcountry and the mountains is stunning and makes for a delightful change of pace. There’s a majesty to the ocean, but similarly there’s majesty in the rising peaks of a mountain range. To be able to experience both allows for a broader perspective, and new inspiration.
For example, take the basic teaching from geometry that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Here in the Lowcountry, it is easy to see that in action. Given a blank piece of land and the need to put a road across it, we can think about just making it a straight road (provided there aren’t too many rivers, streams or marshes to cross). Yet the topography of mountainous areas completely ruins that notion. There are places where a straight line is simply impossible, and other places where it is definitely ill-advisable. At one point, while looking at my mapping directions, the road ahead looked much like a horseshoe, where the only viable path was probably five times longer than the straight line.
Yes, we can look at two points and easily see that the shortest distance is a straight line. We see that most permanently and clearly when we look at a tombstone, and the dates of birth and death are linked by one short dash. However, we don’t live our lives like that. Our lives are more like driving in the mountains, filled with twists and turns that we take along the route even when our desired destination seems a short distance away. And frankly, some of us will have a smoother path that allows for a less convoluted routing, following a road that doesn’t have switchbacks and inclines and other deviations from the straight and narrow path.
Yet the most impactful moments can occur along these various switchbacks, revealing hidden waterfalls or breathtaking overlooks. We meet people when we slow down to navigate the twists and turns. Yes, sometimes these turns take us further from our destination, and seem non-sensical at times, but if we ultimately arrive at our desired destination, then even those points when we seemed far away become a key part of the overall story. The depth and beauty of the story can’t simply be told by saying that we started at point A and arrived at point B, because there is frequently an odyssey that occurs in the middle.
Friends, we are all on an odyssey, and the lines of our lives might be more twisted and convoluted than a bowl of spaghetti, but here’s one thing that we all know – there will be an ending. If that ending places you in the presence of God being welcomed into His Kingdom, then every single switchback, deviation, and detour somehow is woven into a beautiful story of God’s love, patience, mercy, and grace that can never be told by a simple dash between two points. Your life, no matter how far you have strayed from the straight path, might make for one of the best stories ever told – provided you reach the proper destination.
Don’t despair if you think you are far from where you need to be. Swing by the church at 10:00 am Sunday morning, and we’ll see if we can plug the proper destination coordinates into your GPS and chart the course that will bring you home as smoothly as possible.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron