Roman Roads

A couple of thousand years ago, the Roman Empire controlled much of Europe, including Britain, the Middle East and part of North Africa. In order to facilitate the control of this far-flung empire, the Romans built a network of roads that connected the conquored lands. They were a powerful force throughout the land under their control and believed themselves to be unconquorable. That attitude is easily summed up in the words of Julius Caesar in his book on the Gallic wars, "Veni, vidi, vici". As any Latin student can tell you, this translates to, "I came, I saw, I conquored." If you don't know, Gaul was the name of country which is France today.

That wonderful engineering feat, the Roman road network, was built by hand. They did not have any of the equipment we have today. Yet, despite that, or maybe because of it, many of those ancient roads still exist today. In its heyday, the saying was that all roads lead to Rome, not just in terms of geography, but as an expression of the awesome power the Romans wielded.

Today, in this country, we have the interstate highway system, properly known as the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, for the president who had the vision and drive to have the legislation passed and funded. They do not all lead to one place like the old Roman roads, but they do allow us to drive from coast to coast and border to border with a minimum of delay...other than a few speed limit signs.

When it comes to our approach to God, we also have a path. Some people say we have to keep to the "straight and narrow" to get where we want to go, namely Heaven and an eternity with God. No highway, no matter how well constructed and maintained is truly straight and without its delays. Just as we can drive from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida on Interstate 10, so too can we get to God. That highway, I-10, has its turns and curves and delays. There are times when we have to stop for fuel, both for the body and for the car. We can't just drive the 3,000 miles non-stop on our own; we need help to get there.

So it is with our journey to God. We don’t just get born and follow a marked path, all smooth and straight, to get there. That path is just like any highway you have ever driven. There are curves and hills and valleys, detours and rough spots. There are distractors, just like the billboards along the highway, that tempt you to take off in a different direction. While the detours along the highway usually lead to someplace that has a touristic interest, which often will cost some money, the detours along the road to God may have more serious consequences.

Before the advent of the GPS, we had to study road maps and written directions in order to get from one place to another place we had never been before. For our journey to God, we do have written directions, the Bible. The directions are there, just waiting for you to read and study them. Just like the old Roman roads are still there today, still leading back to Rome, so is the Bible still leading us to God. Pick it up or download it onto your smartphone or tablet. Follow what it says and you will get where you, and God, want you to go. Ignore what it says and you will not like the destination of that detour you will be tempted to take. What is your choice of destination?

The Pulse

A pulse is the sign of life in all of us. Sometimes it is slow, sometimes rapid, or irregular, or
thready. It is something that is checked by medical personnel, EMT’s, and mom’s. It’s strength
and regularity, or the lack of, is a measurement of our health. You can’t go through a day
without seeing someone on a television program grabbing a wrist or touching the side of a
neck to measure it, or find that it has stopped. As long as your heart beats, you have a pulse.

Writers often talk about the pulse of a nation, a group of people, of the feelings of life around
us. It may be a feeling of pleasure of your surroundings, of excitement during a sporting event,
or of the rising tide of anger of a mob of people.

It has been said that when two people hold hands, their hearts will soon synchronize and beat
the same rhythm. This mysterious merging of the hearts’ rhythms is a sign of the feelings the
two people share with each other, even when unspoken.

If our pulse is a sign of our life, and often with other people, then there should be a pulse that
shows our relationship with God. Where would we find it? On the knees when we kneel to
pray, or, our hands when they are joined together? Perhaps it is in the heart where we have
the love God gives to us and we to him. Wherever it is, or isn’t, we know there has to be a
pulse that shows us the strength of our relationship with him. Is it a strong, steady beat that
tells us that is the nature of our relationship? Or, is it rapid and irregular when we are having
problems in our connection to him. Perhaps it is very weak and almost undetectable when we
have turned our backs to him and followed a wrong path. The one thing it will never be in this
life is totally gone. Regardless of how bad a connection we have, it will never not be there.
God is always there to give us his own version of CPR to bring us back to life with him. Of
course, our pulse with him will be strongest when we leave this mortal life behind and spend
eternity with him in his home.

Just as we can put our fingers on our wrist or neck to check our physical pulse, so too can we
take our spiritual pulse. It is merely connecting with God and sensing the strength of that
connection. Does it feel strong and alive and full? Is it mediocre and dull, kind of just “there”?
Or is it weak, distant, almost undetectable? God is constant. He never changes. He can fill
our lives with almost more than we can hold or stand. So, if God is a constant, then it must be
us who creates the different pulses, be they strong, or medium or weak.

What is your Godly pulse? Which is it, the strong, the medium, or the weak? How do you
want it to be? YOU have the control. How close or distant you are is all up to you. You know
what to do, what it takes to either maintain the level you have now or change it. Do you want
the closest relationship, where the pulse is the strongest? Then you must be doing all of the
things he has asked of you, and will continue to ask. Is your pulse less than full? Then you
know what you need to do, don’t you? If you need help to focus, to get there, then there is
help, in the form of a minister, priest, or other spiritual leader. If you aren’t where you want to
be, it is only because you have chosen to be where you are today. Make a new choice. You
have that control.