Kayaking and the Narrow Road

A couple of weeks ago I spent a beautiful morning on the Arkansas sorta River kayaking with a couple of great friends. We talked and laughed and enjoyed being outside. The river was not raging. In fact, if you weren't careful you would find yourself stuck on a sandbar. But if you payed attention, there was plenty of water to get down the river and enjoy it. On the river, the right path was a winding 's' curve that swept from bank to bank over and over. But, being a river, the right path and the wrong path ran very closely together. It was often hard to tell if a place was the right way to go until you were right on top of it.

(That's a bald eagle flying through the middle!)

All of this got me thinking about Matthew 7:13-14 where Jesus says, 

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

I've always thought of those verses as describing roads that head in two different directions. One goes North, one goes South. But both those roads, the one of destruction and the one to life, are headed to the same thing in my life. My earthly death. After I die, they will diverge quickly and considerably, but until then, the roads are connected.

Which brings me back to the river and those pesky sandbars that you get stuck on when you're taking a picture or watching a bald eagle or just floating without really thinking. They are everywhere! You can easily end up on them if you aren't watching the water.

So pay attention. 

Listen and watch for God.

And follow where he is leading you down the narrow road. Just because it is narrow doesn't mean it will be straight.