John Derek Campbell

Life has many crossroads (and I am not referencing the literal kind). Some are fairly simple to navigate, whereas others we may find ourselves at the intersection of staring into the distance to find where they may take us. Over the past few years, I’ve found myself at the same crossroads, watched new ones connect and old ones shrivel and fall away, as if the path itself was a withering vine.

What do we do when faced with what seems like an insurmountable decision at such a crossroads? Especially, one the kind that seems that it may dictate the direction for the rest of our life. We do not know the destination, nor do we know the difficulty. Many of the roads look eerily the same, yet we can imagine they lead to vastly different ends.

I imagine that, by now, I have essentially decided to sit down in the middle of this intersection, constantly panning between the options in front of me. However, don’t mistake me for having a complete lack of action. No, I have indeed started walking down some of these paths before. Goodness, it seems there is no path I hadn’t started down. But none of the paths felt like a “sure thing”.

Was I like Lot’s wife, doomed to look back at the safety of mindless distractions and comforts that up until now was so reliably provided to me? I certainly hope not, because last I read, she was commanded not to look back but did anyway and turned into a pillar of salt!

Thus far, I’m still breathing and there are no indications any part of me has become partly salty yet. Whew… Except, perhaps, sometimes my viewpoint on things might be classified as “salty”, and that’s not great news. While I’m not proud of that, I find myself encountering frustration more often than I’d like. This restless desire… no… this restless need to take a path and walk it without looking back beckons.

The time to make a decision seems like it is now, if not already long ago. However, I don’t feel any sort of confirmation.

Is this how those skydiving feel for the very first time?

Am I standing on the precipice of the plane, ready to jump, hoping my parachute holds fast?

I inch ever closer to the edge of the precipice. At this point I’m either a novice skydiver above the clouds, blind to the much of the ground below, or a hiker on an unmarked trail who’s going to run out of supplies eventually if I don’t at least try.

I look to the heavens and plead my case. My prayers seem to be met with silence. There’s no booming voice from the sky, no breeze kicking a flurry of dust one way or another, and no animal or person to drop off a letter from beyond containing the instructions I feel that I need.

At times, my heart races. My adrenaline tells me that I may never discover where I’m going. But this surely cannot be the last crossroads I ever encounter, right?

All I have is what is in front of me. I can test it against the grain… I can inspect each path and see if they will lead me deeper into my faith or away from it, if any path will threaten my spiritual relationship with God or bring me closer to Him, or if any contain mires of harmful temptation.

Yes, there are many paths ahead of me, do any fit the aforementioned warnings? Perhaps not obviously (at least not immediately), but there’s one more thing that is often overlooked:

God speaks in many ways… sometimes, that is through others. Have I heard Him in this way? Absolutely, and on many occasions. On occasion, I’ve enjoyed the brief company of passerbys on the trail of life and they had at least one bit of advice in common. Therefore, there is at least one path that stands out as the more “likely” candidate. Regardless, studying the Word and prayer has provided me with reassurance for the ventures ahead. I simply need to take a step and not look back.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Isaiah 30:21 – NIV