Walking on the Way

Forty years ago the library at the college I was attending was getting rid of some old books. They were offering them for free.  So I picked one up, a little book called “The Way.” I can still remember that book. There were a lot of textbooks that I read in college as well, I couldn’t name any of them. But as I was working on my previous post about our lanes, I remembered that book.

I have always been a reader. I have scads of books. So I went to find that book in my “bookshelf”.  My bookshelf runs across the walls of my office high up near the ceiling. 36’ feet of shelf. It is filled with books that I read and decided to keep. I just like the ambience of books. And, on occasion, I will pull one down and re-read it. That was what I was planning to do. But I couldn’t find it.

Well, there is this thing called the internet. But I couldn’t find it there either. Another book called “The Way” was all that came up.  I couldn’t remember the author’s name, whoever he was, search engine optimization wasn’t his forte. Aphasia is a weird animal. Names are almost impossible for me to recall. I guess my “search engine optimization” part of my brain needs work as well.

I have worked on my memory with therapists. One of the tricks to dodge your memory is to talk about what word you are trying to remember. Sort a way to work backward to what you wanted to say.

“I can’t remember what it was called, It’s a big gray animal, you know, the one in the room.”  “Oh you mean an elephant?” “Yeah, that’s it.” 

The first time I used a “Name Recognition” program in my Ipod I realized how bad the state of my brain was. The first picture that came up was an elephant, and when I tried to remember what an elephant was, I couldn’t. I couldn’t name an elephant. All that came out was, uh uh uh uh. Sort of discouraging.

Well, this time I didn’t say, uh uh uh. This time, I tried working backward to the goal. All I could remember was that the author was a missionary in India. So I googled “missionary in India” and what popped up was a list of famous missionaries in India, and right in the middle of the list was a name I recognized, E Stanley Jones. And Amazon had his book. One click, and it magically arrives on my doorstep.  More magically than that, I remembered a name. 

This book, or maybe better, the truths of this book, made an impact on my life as I was figuring out what I believed in. As I was working on my worldview, (at that time, I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. but that is exactly what I was doing) those truths became part of the foundation that my life was built on. I can see that now, I was there, standing in the crossroads of my life, looking for the way. The truths in this book are the same truths that are given in the bible. They aren’t new, they have been proclaimed as long as words have been around.  Well, somehow they started to click for me.

Jeremiah was a prophet for a nation which was chosen by God, but had lost its way. Much like our nation, which was founded with the truths of the bible, but now is floundering. The words he proclaims in Israel could be proclaimed here as well. 

Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…         

Jeremiah 6.16

Stand at the crossroads and look.

We as a nation are at a crossroad, that is so apparent to me. I can see two roads, one leading to death, one leading to life. One that is wide and it is crowded with people following each other, following themselves, it is littered with the brokenness of life. The other road is narrow, it leads to justice and mercy and peace and joy and truth. It is paved with gold. People there are following God, the way is God’s way. Stand there and look.

Ask for the ancient paths. 

Do we even want the ancient paths in the modern world? Absolutely we do, we need them more than ever. The Way of life was created when the world was created, right and wrong, light and darkness, men and women, the kinds of relationships we need with others, all of these have always been there, embodied into creation. They stand true in all ages. 

Light and darkness, but a powerful metaphor.  It is used everywhere in the bible. The darkness is bad, the light is good. The first thing that was created, the first thing, was light, “Let there be light” and a split second after that, right before anything else was created, God separated the light from the darkness. “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” “The Way” was created when the world was created. And it was good.  

Ask where the good way is. 

The goodness of the Way is portrayed often in the bible. One example is in Psalm 103. 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;  Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;  Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.   

Psalm 103:1-5

Wow, how good is that! It is the good way, It’s the best way, it’s the only way.

And walk in it.

Ah, the crossroads in our lives. Which way do we go? Where do we walk? Where will you find rest for your soul? The crux of matter is this, we need to walk in it. Thinking about it, hoping for it, planning to do it – unless we walk in it, none of these things matter. The verse I started with is incomplete, I left a couple words off it at the end. Here is of Jeremiah said to the nation of Israel,

Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls, But you said, ‘we will not walk in it’.   Jer 6.16

Jeremiah 6.16

Over and over again, God gave Israel a way to turn from their ways, over and over again they said, we will not walk in it. 

Jeremiah was a gifted writer. Very eloquent, very poetic, there is beauty to his words, but they are also brutally hard to read. Hard words for the reader back then, hard words for the nation I live in now. I grieve for America. I pray for those who have decided to follow their ways but have lost the Way.   

God is the same today as He was in the time of Jeremiah. His “Way” is still the best way, it is the only way that will stand. He offers us a way to turn from our ways as well. Over and over again he offers us chances, but, if we continue to say, we will not walk in it, what do you think will happen?  

So, I am planning to read this book again. Not to reminisce, but to be sure my steps are still on the Way.  God’s way. Wherever you are, there is a way, the Way. Through our triumphs and losses, through the good days and the bad, even through a stroke, it doesn’t matter where you start, what matters is that you walk in it because it leads you to life and you will find rest for your soul.