deep country

This morning I went for a drive through some back roads.   You wonder, as you follow the curves of these narrow roads, about why the roads have so many bends and twists and then you realize that today's roads were built on yesterday's paths, which wound around farms and family property and negotiated hills and ravines.  These country roads are a truer picture of our lives than the interstate highway, which can stretch for miles with barely a change in elevation or turn.  Life is like a country road, with hidden twists and sudden drops and you are always close to the woods and to the lives of others on the road and by the embracing roadside.  As I rounded a bend in the road today I found an old church nestled in the angle of the road's curve.  It was a simple frame building, and there was no sign proclaiming a denomination.  But you could tell it was a church from the windows, which were stained in translucent color and each window had triangular panes pointing up at the top.  You could also tell it was a church from the gravestones out back, with family clusters of parents and children who have lived and died in this church family for the past century and a half.  There was no parking lot for this church so folks must still walk here from nearby places, or line the narrow road for parking.  Deep in the country there is no need to impress...there is only the basic need to connect with one another and with almighty God.  He meets folks on their windy roads in a simple and sincere greeting and speaks truth from His house.  They find comfort with Him and with His children and, one day, they are content to lay down at His feet in the ground outside His doors, confident that they will wake up next to Him.  We find ourselves as we travel down deep country roads.

Judges 5:⁵ The mountains quaked in the presence of the Lord,

      the God of Mount Sinai—
   in the presence of the Lord,
      the God of Israel.

 ⁶ "In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
      and in the days of Jael,
   people avoided the main roads,

      and travelers stayed on winding pathways.