Good-bye, Road Warrior Series. I have reached that point, where my inspiration has moved to a new place and I have said all that I want to say, for now, about life on the road. (I was also afraid that you might think I stole the idea from the new book called “Road Warrior” by Steve Arterburn, when in fact, I did not even know it was a book until I saw it in the airport Monday night).

Since I began this Christian journey 21 years ago, I have slowly noticed how God makes His presence evident to me in clear and unmistakable ways, often times when I least expect it or when I’m looking in the opposite direction. In college and seminary, I was further challenged to hone the discipline of “theological reflection.” In this discipline I simply train my eyes, my ears, my head and my heart to notice, in the everyday occurences and conversations of my life, threads of God’s reality and the gospel. And like training the body to run long distances in a marathon, my heart and my mind have become, over the years, trained to look for these glimpses of The Divine. I see that I am surrounded by the sacred.

Just a few days ago I was on the phone with an old friend and he was letting me know about an acquaintance in ministry, whom we both knew, who had just been caught red-handed in an affair with another woman. The man’s minsitry was shot, his kids devastated, his wife suicidal, and his church destroyed. It was a soul-sucking conversation to have, and it seems like I have them more often now than ever before.

We live in the middle of nowhwere. No high speed internet, sketchy cell coverage. To get to our house I must pass miles of soy bean fields and pastures, old farm houses, cows, horses, and the occasional wild deer or turkey. So I was on the phone listening to the gut-wrenching story of another man of God who stepped out of bounds when I saw something I had seen dozens of times before. But not like this.

It was a horse eating grass. Big whoop. He had his head stuck between the strands of a barbed wire fence and was stretching it to the point of breaking it. But what made this time different was that my senses were keenly aware of the striking symbolism due to the conversation I was having. This horse had plenty of green grass INSIDE THE FENCE. It was no different than what he was feasting on through the barbed wire. Same grass, different location. And the old phrase was there in front of me…”the grass is always greener on the other side.”

How utterly stupid it was of my ministry colleague to venture outside of the restraints and safety of marriage and actually believe it would better than what he already had! Just like that dumb horse straining and pushing through the pain of sharp metal barbs poking through his skin, his animal desire to have something off limits took over. I literally pulled off the road to watch this horse eat while thinking about the agony of a family and a church community because one man could not be satisfied with his own wife.

It could happen to me. And you. Only by God’s grace have we not disqualified ourselves with some stupid lust or demonic desire. So as you drive around this weekend, ask God to open your eyes and quicken your heart. You will be surprised how many sacred things surround you and how God will speak to you if you will listen.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.