Bumps

We all have had that experience while driving where, before we know it, we have drifted a little too close to the middle or the side of the road and we hear that “thud, thud, thud” of the road bumps and reflectors telling us to move back to the middle of the lane. Those road bumps are there to protect us and guide us.

I recently heard a story of a group of travelers on motorcycles riding cross country to Mississippi. It was 10pm and they had been riding all day and were almost to there destination for the night when a thunder storm came out of nowhere. The rain was coming down so thick that their visibility was barely 5ft in front of them. 

The road, lucky for them, was brand new. It was just paved so it was nice and level. There were no pot holes or bumps in the road that would make navigating through the storm any more difficult than it already was. There was only one problem. Because it was a new road, there were no reflectors or road bumps to tell them where the center of the road or the side of the road was. There they were... in the dark... no visibility... no guidance...

Now if you are like me, you are waiting for the horrible ending that is sure to come. Well there isn’t. All the travelers got to there destination safely after walking their bikes the last 2 miles. But these riders will never forget that night because it was the night they never thought they would make it through. 

When the leader of the group tells this story, he ends with saying that he never looks at bumps in his life the same way again.

Bumps.

They come and they go. You may loose your job or your house. Or maybe it is a bad grade in school. A missed pass in a football game or a flat tire on the side of the road.

Isaiah 26:7 says “The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.”

The path of a Christian is not an easy path. It is not the yellow brick road that makes everything easy. But God makes it level for us when we choose to follow Him. There are bumps in the road, yes... but maybe they are there for safety. The bumps tell us that we are veering of the level path that God has laid for us. 

The leader of the motorcycle group said that he never looked at bumps in his life the same way again because he realized that they are not there to torment, frustrate, or irritate us. They are not God messing with us to see how far we can be pushed. They are simply road reflectors making a “Thud, thud, thud” to tell us that we need to move back to the center of the lane.

So what bumps do you have in your life? What are you struggling with that you just can’t seem to figure out how to fix? Maybe, just maybe, that’s God saying “hey there, come back towards me.”

“Thud, thud....thud, thud....thud, thud”