Speaking Of Life 1012 | Driving Down a Ditch
Jeff Broadnax
Have you seen the movie Twister?
It’s been over 20 years since that movie came out, and there’s still a scene stuck in my head. It’s when Bill and his wife Jo, are chasing a tornado. They decide to drive their truck into a field, down a well-traveled ditch, instead of staying on the road. Not their brightest moment. They think this will get them ahead of the tornado, but instead, the road entraps them.
No matter how hard they try, they can’t escape the dirt walls of the ditch carved over time. To make matters worse, the road dead-ends at an old wooden bridge. Ultimately the tornado catches them, destroying their truck. Bill and Jo narrowly escape by jumping out and taking shelter under the bridge. Whew!
It’s an intense scene and everyone knows they’re going to get trapped. That’s what happens when people drive in ditches. They get deeper and deeper until there’s no way out.
The same is true for how our brain works. The more we travel down certain “roads” with our thoughts and actions, the more we carve out ditches (what scientists call neuro-pathways) in our brain. This is how habits and addictions develop. Our brain literally is sculpted by our thoughts over time.
Do you ever feel like Bill and Jo in that truck? Going down a dead-end road, unable to turn your thoughts and actions around? If so, welcome to humanity. It’s a well-traveled road, going all the way back to Adam.
But there’s good news. There’s a man, a new Adam, who has carved out a new road. He made a new pathway in our mind and heart. From birth to death he traveled down the road of faith, hope and love where all his thoughts and actions sculpted a new way forward. Psalm 1 speaks of “the man” who lives his whole life, faithfully and righteously, creating a road of blessing for all to travel.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)
Jesus is “the one” this Psalm points to. The day and night delight of having all our thoughts and actions traveling down God’s road of blessing has been carved out in Jesus. And Jesus doesn’t intend to travel alone. He cut the path and invites us to join along for the journey.
Jesus meets us at the dead-end of our road, destroying all that entraps us, saving us to walk with him on a new road of blessing. As we walk with him, step by step, our thoughts and actions conform to his, where blessing and delight become a way of life.
So, the next time you see a twister, ditch the truck, find the true path and walk with Jesus.
I’m Jeff Broadnax, Speaking of Life