A Rite of Passage

 A Quiet Road

Farmersburg, Indiana

April 2010

John 14:6 NIV

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Although life in the 1960s wasn't perfect, it was certainly different than how my children have grown up.

We lived in a suburb of a major city, Cincinnati, Ohio, yet we left the front door open and often unlocked at night, especially in summer, so the cool night breeze could enter the house through the screen door.

Our parents let us freely roam the neighborhood without worrying about our safety. However, we weren't to cross over the major road behind our house until we were old enough.

This rite of passage for my friends and me happened when I was about eight years old and our parents allowed us to walk to Scotty's, a small corner store (we called them "pony kegs") about a mile away from home.

The route involved crossing one busy road. Otherwise, we sauntered on sleepy residential roads, laughing the whole way there and back.

We had change jingling in our pockets and our minds set on the treasures we would buy at Scotty's.  I spent my money on a twelve ounce bottle of Coke for fifteen cents. Ten cents for the Coke and five cents for the bottle deposit.  I spent another dime on a pack of Topps baseball cards hoping to get one of my heroes on the Cincinnati Reds like Pete Rose or Johnny Bench.

This rite of passage looks tame by today's standards. My students get tattoos and tongue rings for their rites of passage.

The doors in my house are always locked, and I wouldn't let my fourteen-year old daughter, Allison, walk outside our neighborhood without my cell phone and a trusted friend to accompany her.

Times change. God hasn't. He is the constant through the ages. Although civilizations devolve or evolve based on social standards of the age, He is the Rock of Ages.

God always watches over me, hopes for the best, and reaches His arms out in love to me.

I am the one who moves away from Him or toward Him. I am the one with Free Will to accept or reject Him.

I am the one old enough to cross the busy roads of life ignoring him, meandering aimlessly down side roads that take me nowhere except to corner stores that burned down years ago and only exist in my memory.

Or--

I could look to the high road and follow light and love to new experiences. Freeing myself from whatever binds me here on Earth. Guilt, depression, hopelessness, loss, pain.

It's not a toll road. Jesus is the way to a new life. I don't have to spend any change to walk on this path. It's free.

It's a gift from a loving Savior.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, Lord, for creating a path to follow you.