Hurry or See? A Dilemma..

   I read in Luke 17, the beginnings of a narrative. It starts:

"On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance"

   Jesus was on a purposeful journey, to Jerusalem, for a predetermined reason. It was to be His crucifixion and resurrection.

   Next week we will take a purposeful trip also. We will go to our son's in Virginia for Thanksgiving. We won't dilly dally along the way, we will take the interstate all the way to within 5 miles of his house. It will be I-95 to I-26 to I-77 to I-81 until we get near there. It is a long trip, and we will be in a hurry to complete it in the daylight hours of one day.

   When Jesus traveled the roads of Palestine there were no bypasses for any towns, no interstates with one exit for a town that you could not even see from that roadway. No doubt the paths He walked went right through the heart of any town or village. If He had been in such a hurry to get to his destination, He might have missed those 10 lepers in that small place, and they would have missed Him.

   I have to think it would be like some of our courthouse trips. The majority of the county seats in Georgia do not lie in cities or towns right by the interstates. They are on the smaller roads, off the main traffic routes. You can't be in too much of a hurry if you are headed there. We end up on roads such as Georgia highway 37, heading toward the county seat of Calhoun County, Morgan. No bypasses around this town because there is no need. The highway is just another road coming into the town, ending up at the courthouse square. If there is anyone to be seen in this town, it will be here, right in the middle, in the Square. If there is a divine appointment for us with someone in Morgan, it will be here.

   Jesus would have walked right this way, into this town. This did not seem the place to be in a big hurry. He would not be too busy to stop and heal, not too busy to notice and listen to a call to Him.

   How much of my life is like travel on the interstates, drive fast, miss towns and hurry along to a destination of my choosing? How much do I not see along the way?

   I did not see any folks in Morgan that day, maybe because I was in too big a hurry to get my shots and move on toward home, but I bet there were some there.

   Jesus' purpose was to meet the needs of people that were placed in His path. Mine was to get a shot and get home. How much can be missed even on those small roads?

   Hurry may get you there, but it won't help you see.