Several years ago, I was selling a vehicle. A prospective buyer had contacted me and we had agreed to meet in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, at three in the afternoon. After washing, vacuuming and cleaning the vehicle up so that it would look as good as possible I left for town. I arrived at the bank parking lot where we had agreed to meet in good time, but my buyer was not there. I waited, and I waited, fifteen minutes, half an hour, an hour. Then I received a message, they had just gone through Craik, how much further was Humboldt? If you look at map of Saskatchewan, you would realize what I did. Humboldt wasn’t further down the highway they were on. They had left the city of Saskatoon and proceeded down highway 11 which took them in a southeasterly direction. If they continued on the road that they were on they would arrive in Regina, but they would never make it to Humboldt. To get to Humboldt they needed to turn around and get on a different road.
As I waited for them to arrive, I reflected on the popular saying, “Life is about the journey.” The highway that they had chosen is a nice highway for a drive. Four lanes wide, with a large median separating the north bound from the south bound lanes, it is pleasant to cruise along at your chosen speed without the stress of passing, or being passed on a two-lane road. Highway 11 goes past several beautiful valleys that provide a view of native prairie grasses waving on the windy hills. The little towns that dot the route have coffee shops and places to stop, visit, and have a bite to eat. Highway eleven is preferable to the narrow rough piece of pavement labeled Highway 5 in almost every way if the goal is an enjoyable trip, but if the goal is to get from Saskatoon to Humboldt, how pleasant the drive is won’t matter if you never arrive. What a tragedy to enjoy the journey but find out you’ve arrived at the wrong destination. If you have a particular destination in mind, life is about being on the right road.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:13–14 (NKJV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
If your desired destination is heaven, it matters which road you are on. The narrow gate and the narrow road are the way there. There is no other.
by Ryan Schnee,
Village Missionary in Middle Lake, Saskatchewan