For the purposes of discussion let us assume our mortal lives are lived along a "trail." As a minimum the trail of our lives not only is "dusty," but, actually has side paths to explore to sidetrack us from our destination, holes, slopes and inclines, boulders, muddy areas, pools of deep water, rain, torrential downpours, snakes, tarantulas, bandits, dangerous wildlife and hopefully, a few covered rest places along the way. We keep wondering, when the dusty trail will end, so we may find a paved road and then perhaps we may even progress to where we encounter an interstate highway and it is a smooth ride to achieve the final destination of our travels, which is our afterlife.
The alternative to not ever coming upon the interstate to smooth our way and expedite our journey is also an option. It depends on our life's choices. For those that deny there is a God at all to those, who do not desire to be tied down to God's standards of behavior or just never get their act together, they can just keep on down that dusty trail. They probably never think about a way to avoid many of those conditions and situations in the beginning paragraph. But, there is a way! They may continue to experience the negatives of life because they received a poor financial upbringing, were wounded by sinful behavior of others, suffered Post Traumatic Stressors, were raised in unloving homes, were wounded emotionally, were let down by others, succumbed to the lures of greed, promiscuity, criminal or ethical failures, or were not fed spiritually in a worship environment. Those can all legitimately be reasons why some may never get off that lonely and tainted trail in life.
However, for all, the Creator of all, our Lord God Almighty, has established an alternative trail and path upon which to walk each day. It takes a commitment of a certain style of life, which may initially be challenging, but gets smoother each day. God created all of our home planet in seven days by the simple, but, powerful method of "speaking" all into existence, ending with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Their original fall from grace was due to disobedience and that is a key word, disobedience. The easy way in life is to be a "free spirit," not tied down to a faith walk, standards, integrity or belief in the Divinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The advantages of grasping and appropriating the power of faith in that Trinity are overwhelmingly positive, situationally, emotionally and physically. Once that decision is made to follow a new path, the trail straightens out, the dampness of the dew smooths the ground and the diversions and obstacles of our trails followed, lead sooner to the interstate.
Those, who choose to keep on keeping on, may do so, but with a different end. It brings to mind the two Christians beside the road, who held up placards proclaiming, "The End is Near, Turn Around." One approaching traveler, mocked them by saying, "You Christians, leave me alone!" He raced on past them and as he approached the precipice and fell into the raging waters of the river below, still in his automobile, one Christian said to the other, I guess we should have had another sign that said, "Bridge Out!"
If the trail you are on is a "Dusty One," try another trail! You make like it.
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