The Narrow Road

My wife and I returned home from vacation recently when we took the scenic but narrow Meiringskloof road meandering through the mountains. At one spot our car left the road slightly and when I over-adjusted, it started to spin out of control.

When we finally stopped, the car faced in the opposite direction.

Right next to the road was the sheer mountain face and opposite on the other side, trees and a river. Yet, this 360 degree manoeuvre took place while the car stayed on the surface of the narrow road. An accident was avoided not because of our car or my driving skills, but because Jesus was present.

When we started to spin, Harriet cried out to God to assist us and I joined in and He abruptly stopped the car without us getting injured or the car damaged.

This accentuated the fact once again that Jesus is present in Person during our everyday lives. It is easy to believe in Someone who lived in the past whom we will meet in future, but it is not easy to know He is present now if there is no visual proof of that presence – until we experience it like we did above. Then we realise we have to hold on to His realistically present hand every second of the day.

In John 5:31-47 Jesus addressed the Jews who sought to kill Him because they did not believe the Man in front of them was the Messiah.

Then Jesus told them that they searched the Scriptures proclaiming the coming of Christ. They listened to Moses and accepted his message. They listened to John the Baptist and many believed and were baptised. And He continued: “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (40)

After years of anticipating His appearance, they did not believe in Jesus when He arrived!

When the Scriptures were fulfilled, they had the privilege to look at Him, touch Him and follow Him, and yet, they did not believe in Him.

We do the same most of the time. We pray “Our Father which are in heaven.” We surrender to the Holy Spirit to be in His presence. We study the Scriptures and organise Colleges and Seminars to train people to understand different languages and study the cultures and history of the people in the Bible to find out more about redemption and Jesus. We join denominations and get baptised, sing in church choirs, give money to the church and serve the people around us, but we miss the most important part – spending time with Jesus.

If your life seems to spin out of control like our car did, do not wait for the spinning to stop – ask Him to step in because He is present.

You can neither see, nor physically touch Him. Nevertheless, at this very moment, give Him a hug and love Him, He’s been waiting every day for you to do just that. And tomorrow morning as you wake up, live as if to breathe His presence into your existence because He would stay with you throughout the day in Person.