Bend in the Road

​Highway 101 hugs the California coastline from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I know because my newlywed bride and I traveled on it during our honeymoon in 1974.
 
Jo Ann and I could have trimmed substantial hours off our trip to honeymoon bliss in San Francisco if we would have driven Interstate 5. I am so happy we chose 101. Interstate 5 is boredom at its best…a gridlocked, crazy-crowded, concrete corridor of nothing but boring sameness.
 
Scenic Highway 101 is anything but boring. Winding and weaving its way through some of the most breathtakingly beautiful shoreline scenery in America, if not the world, something new and exciting awaits around each bend of the road.        
 
Skillfully navigating bends in the road, Jo Ann’s and my vision was opened to surreal vistas of spectacular scenescapes. Sunlight skipping and dancing on the Pacific Ocean waves, playful seals frolicking on the rocky shoals, straight down drop-offs that took your breath away, Jonathan-Livingston seagulls soaring freely above, salty ocean breeze passing through the car…wow! A never-to-be-forgotten ride with my beautiful bride.
 
Approaching each bend in the road we did not know what was around it. But we knew it would be good. Whoever planned Highway 101 knew what they were doing. Talk about bang for the buck!
 
At first the bends in the road raised my anxiety, especially when we seemed to be hanging on to the side of cliffs overlooking a jagged, rocky beach below.
 
Truth being told, I prefer to know and see where I am going. A bend in the road blocks the view of the rest of the road and the end I am anticipating. After a bend or two, realizing the bend was not the end, I turned into a bend freak! So much for my bend-phobia. Bring on the bends. I could not wait to see what lay just around the bend.   
 
A bend in the road is not the end of the road.
 
Paul reminds us that God causes, works with and through all things (including bends in our faith road) for good in the lives of those who love Him and desire to fulfill His purpose.
 
Romans 8:26 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
 
Bends are not necessarily bad things. Even if you believe a bend in the road is not good, God can work it for your good, if you let Him. A bend in the road can be part of God’s will for your life if you trust Him.
 
Having walked by faith in Christ for forty-nine years, I have experienced significant bends in my spiritual journey. Bends in the road that caught me by surprise, turned my plans upside down, and left me wondering what was next. With God’s help, I worked hard to not let the bends break me. A bend was not the end for Steve.
 
I trusted God that the bends in the road could and would lead me to be more Christlike and fulfill the dreams God had given me.
 
I do not want to minimize bends in the road. Road bends in the journey of life can be intimidating and challenging when facing one. But I believe God made the faith road…. bends, curves, twists and turns included. There are many blessings just around the bends you and I encounter. 
 
Without question, the richest, incredibly exciting and satisfying, most enduring blessings God has brought to my life showed up on the other side of a bend in the road.
           
 Turning Bends In The Road Into Blessings
 

• God is in the bends of life. Ups, down, whatever comes around, God is with us.
• Bends are not ends. Bends are a means to an end on the road of abundant and eternal life. 
• A bend in the road can be the beginning of something awesome in life.
• A road bend can lead to an ending we could have never imagined.
• A bend in the road is an opportunity to walk by faith, not by sight. 
• God can use a bend in the road to mend something in my life that needs mended.
• A bend in the road can be a friend along your life journey.
• A bend-less journey is a boring journey. Interstate 5 or Highway 101? We choose which one we plug in to our GPS.     
• Trust God. Be wise. Bends in the road are not sent to suspend our journey but to bless our journey.  
• A bend in the road can send you down the road to God’s blessing in ways you never imagined.

 
Think with me for just a moment.  What might you miss if you do not keep moving forward by faith just because you cannot see around the bend in the road? What blessing might you forfeit if you turn back when you come to a road bend?
           
If you have come to a bend in the road, it is not the end of the road.
 
Just because you cannot see around the corner right now, does not mean your journey is over. God is waiting for you around the corner, paving the way for you to experience and enjoy His good, acceptable and perfect will for your life.
 
Your bend in the road can be a blessing if you believe God is just around the bend!
Embrace and enjoy the bend!
 
“When God did awesome things we did not expect, God came down and the mountains quaked at His presence. For from of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.”                                                                                                                  Isaiah 64:3-4
 
A Word For Your Week: Bends in the road are opportunities for God to show us something new.