When the Path Isn’t Clear— Keep Going By Jeff Foster
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. (Hebrews 6:1-3 KJV) Every young child while visiting with aunts or uncles or other extended family is inevitably asked the question which he probably doesn’t have a clue as to the real answer. What do you want to be when you grow up? I had my definitive answer sometime around the year 1970. I was going to be a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. Now that decision may have been influenced by the odor of Testor’s plastic model glue while assembling my 1/64th scale model of the F14 Tomcat. I spent many hours in the library reading all I could find about my newly chosen career. But alas all my plans were soon dashed to pieces when I read that one of the requirements for fighter pilots was having a 20/20 vision. And so it was that my half-blind right eye crushed my dreams and pushed me back into the same position as the rest of the nine-yearold kids I knew; not a clue.
Eventually, I did settle into a career path, one that I have enjoyed for the most part. Being a bit rebellious in my younger days while choosing the starting point of my path, I encountered many twists and turns which probably made the journey more difficult than it needed to be. “Learn by doing” was my philosophy. With each step of the way, I learned new things and found ways to use what I had learned from my experiences to boldly accept and conquer new challenges. The difficult experiences quickly gave me opportunities to lead and teach those coming up behind me. While leading and teaching present their own set of challenges, they also provide the most satisfaction. Our Christian journey, like our career path, can take many unexpected turns and run into difficulties. Those turns and difficulties, and the times we just don’t know which way to go, can stagnate us. We think God isn’t speaking or giving us direction, so we just sit down and wait. At the end of the day, how much reward, how much fruit, will be there if we just wait? Nothing. In our workplace job, we are usually expected to keep doing what we are told until we are told to do something different. We can’t expect to clock in each morning and expect someone to come to retrain us for some unknown task. Our Christian path is no different. “Learn by doing” should be the way of life for every Christian.
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