Stay On the Path

I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.

– Isaiah 49:11

Rather than a sprint, a Christ-follower’s spiritual journey is much like a marathon — or better yet — a long journey along a winding road or a steep hike up a mountain. You never know what’s around the bend or over the next crest. And if you’re not careful, it’s all too easy to lose your footing and slip from time to time.

Speaking of cross-country travel, Crabtree Falls is a popular hiking destination in scenic Nelson County, Virginia, that also happens to be the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. The narrow, rocky trail that leads there leaves little margin for error. And there’s even a sign at the water’s edge that warns readers to stay on the path. It explains that careless hikers have died after slipping on the moss-covered rocks and tumbling over the falls.

Stay on the path is the same wise advice that the Bible gives us for our own faith journeys. Life’s hardships and tragedies await us at every turn. And it’s always tempting to take a shortcut or the easy way by doing what’s wrong or avoiding what’s right. But that route leads only to disaster:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it,” Jesus warns us through Matthew’s gospel. “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

The good news is that we worship a God who’s always there to pick us up and return us to the true pathway toward our eternal destination. So just follow His lead, and you’ll reach the goal. And rest assured that you’ll have an unforgettable trip along the way ... with a view that’s out of this world!