It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

The Highway Department resurfaced our section of Highway #101 north. It needed it badly. Potholes and rough road characterized the passage of vehicles of all sizes and shapes along our stretch of road. A lot of travel on a relatively narrow road lends itself toward much wear and tear.

My heart goes out to those flagmen who stand, holding that sign, SLOW! STOP! For hours on end noisy highway department trucks backed up, stopped, hauled, men shoveled, doing their job. “LET ‘EM WORK; LET ‘EM LIVE” takes on new meaning if you’re one of those who holds that sign or if you’re the one working in the middle of the road while all the traffic rolls past you giving you the jaundiced eye and more dirty looks than you can shake a stick at. You’d think the world had come to an end because the road is ‘under construction’ and you have to slow down.

I had to sit for at least five minutes, waiting to drive ¼ mile to get to our subdivision because of the resurfacing crew. HORRORS! The lady in front of me couldn’t turn into her own driveway because of the construction crew. You’d think they’d be more considerate, huh?!

Well, the road roughened considerably before the work crew finished it’s thankless task. At first they addressed the specific potholes in the road, which caused sections to be resurfaced. That caused bumps in the road, not to mention the aesthetics of the thing. It looked really awful. One lane of traffic for a mile frustrates the driving public unbelievably. Stop and go; stop and go. ROUGH ROAD AHEAD

And then it was finished! Ahh, the pleasure of riding on smooth surface.
Life is so much like that. Continual wear and tear on life, marriages, parenting, and church politics creates dangerously rough roads. Stop and go, slow down, be patient, let go and let God. LET HIM WORK, LET US LIVE. You think it can’t get any worse and then of course, it does. It gets worse before it gets better.

It happened like that on crucifixion day. The Via Dolorosa took on a macabre procession of Stop and Go traffic, loud shouts, gut wrenching grief and horrible dread of what lay ahead. We know that the worst was yet to be on that ‘Good Friday’.
And yet, the best was yet to be on that Resurrection Sunday when Jesus paved the way for our resurrection. God the Father knew what He was doing in spite of what everyone thought. Because life became unbearable for Jesus, my Lord, life in Christ is possible for me …and for you.

It had to get worse before it got better. Can you wait three days? “It is finished!” (John 19:20 NIV)