Life is a road. If you look behind, you can see many miles of road stretching away into the distance, twists and turns, green hills bedecked with the wildflowers of smooth sailing, and treacherous, vertigo-inducing mountains. There were detours and other paths to choose, but the only one that matters now is the one you have chosen. That is your road behind you. At times it has been a lovely hike, at other times it has been more akin to navigating a minefield, the rest of the time you may have taken the journey for granted, withdrawing into a comotose-like state of nothingness.
Ahead, the road continues much further than it does behind, further than you can imagine. How far do you think the average 80 year old human will have walked in their lifetime? I dare you to guess. You can see with clarity only that which is in your immediate proximity. The rest is fuzzy and indistinguishable with distance. But you know from experience that the road is riddled with dangers and opportunites. Even new paths to travel down... and whichever you choose becomes part of your road, your life.
Life is a road, you get the good and the bad, the journey itself is life experience. You are presented with choices all your life. This blog, fashioned around the idea of a road and a quote from the Lord of the Rings, is about travelling that road and living our lives. Bilbo said, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." And it's true. When I was in high school, I never imagined going to college to major in Youth Ministry or joining a traveling drama ministry on a whim for two years.
So how do you keep your feet and not be swept away? I say to you, by walking with God. God is sovereign and sovereign is "having supreme independent control over a property or territory". For a state to be considered sovereign, it must "be able to gaurantee the best interests of its citizens". And that is exactly who God is. He is the only one with any sort of control over our lives and the only one who can gaurantee that he has your best interest in mind. God. Is. Sovereign.
As you walk the road of life, keep your feet, keep God in your heart of hearts. And no matter what you face, whether it be orcs, gollums and oliphants, or temptation, fear and loneliness, you can be confident that God will give you only the best, and bring you safely to the end of your road. Which by the way, is 216, 262,500 steps later. Or if you prefer to measure in mileage because you're worried about fitness, is 108,301 miles. Which means you will have successfully circumnavigated the equator 5 times. So I ask you, if this road is your life, who do you want to be in control? Yourself? Your parents? Friends? Peers? Rebecca Black? Your girlfriend or boyfriend (At least you like to let them think that, right?). But when you look back at your road, you can see the blood marks and feel the scars on your hands and knees from where you've stumbled along. We're only human. All of us have.
But He has not.
