Roads. So different. They bring the unexpected and the boring sameness. It just depends what road we are on.

When we travel to run the Cooper River Bridge Run inCharleston,SC, we take 601 south out of Camden, SC. It is long and straight for miles and miles. There are great hills though. Our children have been known to beg to see how far the distance is to the top of the next hill. No kidding. Sometimes, the car odometer has shown the distance to be 5 miles.

Then there is the old road that goes through Saluda, NC. There are so many switchbacks, you think you may meet yourself on the next curve. You cannot see far ahead.

The day we drove to the top of Pikes Peak, I was sure we would run off the side of that winding dirt road. There were no guardrails. Steep, winding, windy…I could not see the security in that.

I think life’s road is like those roads we travel from destination to destination. Sometimes it is beautiful, straight, and safe. Sometimes the road is more than treacherous and we suffer great loss. Sometimes the road is so familiar and repetitive, we become complacent and comfortable.

The past two years have been more than hard. We all have lost dear friends and family. The thought of beginning a new year is terrifying. The way ahead is at best uncertain.

But God. Don’t you love those words? If not for Him, we all would despair. But God is with us. But God has gone before us. But God knows what we need and when we need it.

All the uncertainty of the future…the uncertainty of the way ahead can be laid aside and we can walk with faith. We do not need to fear.

Jesus tells us in John 8:12…”I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Walk faithfully with confidence. We do not need to fear this coming year. The light of the world walks with us.

Happy New Year.