Road Work

It's just not much fun these days.

Driving on Warwick Boulevard between J. Clyde Morris Boulevard and Nettles Drive here in Newport News, that is.

A massive widening project, costing millions of dollars and taking a few years to complete, is underway.

It's certainly needed. Traffic in that corridor has greatly increased over the last few decades. It sure isn't a joyous experience motoring through that construction zone right now, though. It's like an obstacle course out there. Lanes shift almost every day. Barrels and cones and signs and marking tape are everywhere. Speed limits are reduced and vehicles sometimes move at a crawl. There are huge holes and lots of dirt, dust, and mud. Businesses along that strip are inconvenienced and detours abound.

It'll be fabulous when the work is completed and a wider, more expansive roadway is in place. Moving along that stretch will eventually be so much smoother and quicker and more pleasant than in years past. But while all this construction is going on, it's a chore and a drudge to take that route.

All this has set me to thinking about the Christian experience.

Our lives are like highways that God is working on. He's trying to widen us and deepen us and add to us and make us better and richer. Luke, in chapter 3, quotes from the prophet Isaiah and describes the ministry of John the Baptist in preparing for the approach of Jesus. Road building imagery is used. Read it. Verses 4-6 picture this mammoth endeavor of straightening and widening and leveling and smoothing. The scene is reminiscent of workers in ancient times who would renovate roads in advance of an upcoming visit by a monarch. Every effort was made to insure that his journey would be a comfortable one. They wanted to please him. Well, Luke uses that metaphor to suggest that the forerunner was seeking to get people ready spiritually, in their character, for the arrival of the Messiah.

Jesus has, of course, come, but the renovation project continues. It's called sanctification. The Holy Spirit is laboring inside us to mature us and make us more like Christ. He's digging. He's stretching. He's stripping away old habits and building in new patterns and pathways. It's not always pleasant or easy. It sometimes involves loss or changes or sacrifice. Occasionally pain. Often waiting...and more waiting. But God knows what He's doing and the end result is going to be incredibly wonderful. So the barricades and warning signs and construction noises and twists and turns of divine activity in us are for our long-term good and should be bourne with patience. Slowing down isn't always a bad thing, anyway. Becoming more alert to God's work in us is so important.

I'm gonna try to remember to meditate on this stuff when I'm traveling up Warwick and get aggravated at the delays and the maze of road work that seems to be taking forever.