The Road Leads Here

Finding himself at an isolated spiritual life retreat center midst a bunch of strangers who all seemed to know one another, Robert Benson wondered why he was there. With more questions about who he was than answers, the author of "Living Prayers" wrote, "Years later I am still convinced that I heard a Voice and the Voice said to me, 'You promised to follow wherever I might take you, and this is where we go next.  You are here because the road leads here.' " 

 

The Word Benson heard is a Word easily forgotten as we get on the road of following Christ.  We have our own notions about where He is going to lead us and too often where He actually leads has nothing to do with those notions.  It never occurs to us in the beginning that He might lead us into difficult moments, impossible situations, and times of hardship.  And when we find ourselves in such places, we never really stop and figure this is where He wants us to be at that particular moment in our life.  It may be a moment that He has been preparing us to face all our life, but we never really seem to see it in such a way.

But, there is something about the underlining from Benson's book which answers so many of the "Why" questions of our life.  Is it too much to say that we are where we are in the present moment because the road to which we committed to go has taken us the place that fills our life with some of the hard things we would have chosen to avoid?  As we hear what Benson is saying, we come to a place where no explanation, or reason is really necessary.  To give flesh to the belief that God is in control of our life and that He leads us forward gives us no other conclusion.  If we are faithful to Christ, we know we are where we are because the road leads here.