Being courageous

We have lived in Sydney for many years now, yet there are some parts of our city where I do not willingly choose to drive. One is definitely the airport area, especially the domestic terminal with its current nearby roadworks. I find it slightly overwhelming to be confronted with all those different signs showing me which lane I need to be in to get to that elusive express passenger pick-up area. And if I miss the relevant entry point, it can be tricky indeed, with all those one-way streets, to loop around and have another go.

There can also be one further complication to this whole challenge for me. These days, I find driving at night rather difficult, especially in an unfamiliar area. So you can imagine how I felt when I needed to drive to the airport in the dark recently, not once but twice, in a short space of time. No, I did not look forward to it one little bit.

My first effort went well in the end, however, which was encouraging—although that time, I had someone with me I needed to drop off, which helped. Two pairs of eyes are much better than one in such areas, I have discovered. But coming home, I almost missed the turnoff to the road that would take me around the airport area and back home rather than into the middle of the city. Phew! I am sure those prayers I prayed—out loud—were what saved me and that God enabled me to see where to go just in time.

Then, the day before I needed to return to the airport to pick up my passenger, I happened to come across the following verse in my morning Bible reading:

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NLT

God spoke these words to Joshua after the death of Moses when Joshua inherited the responsibility of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land at last. What a massive challenge indeed to take on! No wonder God had to repeat this command to be strong and courageous to Joshua (see 1:6). Yes, God’s words here are full of challenge, but it seems to me they convey such reassuring certainty and compassionate understanding too.

Now I am well aware that my little foray across town in the dark to the airport bears no comparison whatsoever to the massive task that lay ahead for Joshua. But the reassurance and compassion in these words God spoke to Joshua all those years ago was what I sensed for myself too as I realised how God wanted to reach out to me in my own moment of challenge. So I spoke those same words aloud in my study before leaving home—and several times too during my interesting journey!

The following morning, I had to drive some distance again to speak at a group and a place where I have never been before. As I did, those same words God spoke to Joshua reassured me that God was again with me and watching over me. What a privilege to know God is indeed with us wherever we go and well able to see us through whatever challenges we face!

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The right road

One recent Saturday night, I set out to drive our daughter to her home in an entirely different part of Sydney. As usual, I headed for James Ruse Drive, then onto the M4 freeway. As usual too, my daughter and I were talking about all sorts of things, while I endeavoured to keep my eyes on the traffic around me. We were almost at the end of the freeway when, to my horror, I suddenly realised the road we were on looked very different from usual. Somehow I had ended up in the newly completed tunnel that speedily propels drivers towards the city rather than on Parramatta Road near my usual turnoff!

What could we do? Absolutely nothing—except keep driving until we could actually exit onto Parramatta Road, albeit at a spot way past where I wanted to be. But then I had another dilemma. Should I now try to drive our daughter home a different way through unfamiliar suburbs late on a dark night? Or should I backtrack along Parramatta Road and stick to my well-known route?

In the end, I chose the latter. But it was indeed a loooong journey that night.

When I arrived home, my helpful husband asserted that, although he had never been in the new tunnel, there must be signs everywhere that could not be missed. So we decided to take a drive in the daytime to ensure we knew which lane one needed to stick to in order to exit before that shiny, new tunnel swallowed us up again.

Perhaps you can guess what happened. There was my husband, driving along looking at all the road signs, when … poof … suddenly he too found himself careering into the tunnel rather than straight onto Parramatta Road! At least he enjoyed checking it all out. But again, how easy it had been, despite all those signs, to glide along with the other traffic on that wide freeway towards the tunnel!

Later, I thought about what these two interesting experiences where we so easily took the wrong road might teach me for my life in general. It can be so easy to go along with what others say or how others live who do not know or care about God, can’t it? It can be so easy to be seduced by all those ads urging us to do or buy this and that rather than think about what God might want. It can be so easy to drift into watching shows or playing computer games or reading books that do not honour God. But, as Jesus himself taught, this wide, easy road that many others might choose to take does not lead to real life.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

I’m so thankful I veered off onto God’s narrow road many years ago now, rather than powering on along that obvious, wide, easy freeway, heedless to God’s voice. My road might twist and turn, but I know where I’m heading. And I have the perfect Navigator beside me forever who will never lead me astray.

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