Message summary: Today we encourage readers to use their Bible for a road map to navigate their way through this earthly pilgrimage to our heavenly destination!

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“Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take” (Jeremiah 31:21).

Yesterday afternoon we returned from our trip to the Midwest to see family on both sides. We are thankful for the safety God provided us as we traveled over 3,000 miles through portions of 12 states without incident. Most of our trip was on interstate highways.

Years ago Charles Kuralt hosted a program called "On the Road" and observed, “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything". Now that’s a bit of an overstatement since on the interstates you still see a lot of beautiful scenery throughout America but I know what he means. To really see America you need to slow down and get on the old routes and even the rural roads.

Several times during our Midwestern trip we got off the interstate and traveled on these types of roads including several long portions through southern Virginia, a mountain byway in Arkansas, old US Highway 66 in Missouri and Oklahoma and on back roads in Indiana. We enjoyed our travels on these old roads and will share several photos today but let us consider another old road we all must travel, the Bible Road. Many are also abandoning it in favor of what they perceive as a "better way".

The spirit of lawlessness is growing exponentially in our lifetime. Our world is dealing with indescribable evil resulting in rampant sinful behavior that is really just a return to the turbulent Biblical period of the Judges when the people became their own authority. They completely ignored the laws God had laid down and acted on their own opinions of right and wrong. The writer portrays the spiritual climate with these words:  “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Is this not also descriptive of our own time period?

We pray that God will give each reader deep discernment to understand the times. We must have a firm resolve to be actively faithful to God, staying on the right road, the Bible Road. In a remarkable prophetic statement in Daniel 12:10 we read, "The wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand".

We seek God for insight to understand and believe that timeless biblical truths are God’s appointed means to show us His plan for our lives. As we travel the Bible Road we become very familiar with God’s road map and recognize the enemy’s snares and tactics. We learn to navigate through difficult  terrain! The road is bumpy at times and we will encounter providential detours, but with a firm resolve to stay the course on Bible Road and not be steered astray by deadly alternate routes, we will arrive safely at our destination according to God's providential time line.

Consider just one portion from our daily text: "Take note of the highway, the road that you take”. Now that's good advice for any road trip.

Today, there are indeed many roads that seem right. The vital question of life we must all consider and answer for ourselves is, “Am I on the right road?” I believe that requires us to travel the Bible Road, not veering to the right or the left. We want to use the Bible for a road map to navigate our way through this earthly pilgrimage to our heavenly destination!

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, I am thankful for the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures that provides an objective and accurate guide for every season of my life. Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for the path that lies before me.  It teaches, convicts, corrects, and trains me in the ways of godliness. Though many will choose other authorities to guide their lives, I choose Your Holy Book to equip me for the works You’ve called me to do in Your name. I rely on its inspired texts to sustain and guide me in my lifetime commitment to walk in Your ways as I travel the Bible Road that leads to eternal life. Amen.

Route 66 Trivia: It turns out that we had a lot of Route 66 connections in our younger years, although at the time we lived near it we thought nothing of it. Brooksyne grew up on a small farm right off Route 66 southwest of Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended high school located on Route 66. We met in Bible College which is right off Route 66 in Springfield MO and were married in a church near Rt. 66 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Our very first part-time pastoral experience was in a tiny country church in Northfield, MO near Route 66.

Route 66 is probably the most famous US highway route, the road from Chicago to LA and popularized in the John Steinbeck book, “The Grapes Of Wrath”. He termed it the “Mother Road”. Although for the quick-paced, it’s been abandoned as a major US route, but it's still 85% active with state and county road designations. Most old US highways like Route 1 up the east coast or Route 40 through the midsection are still active highways and are generally the commercial roads with ever-changing business locations. But in many places Route 66 seems locked in time and driving on it brings you back to what a family road trip might have been like in the 1950’s.

Driving on Rt 66 is slower but more scenic and now there is a resurgence of interest in the old road’s heritage. Years ago we were out in Arizona and, surprisingly, Chinese tourists were enthralled with Rt 66!