Guardrails

I hope I am making the right decision. In charge of the homeschool ski group, I look at road and mountain conditions and make the call on whether the group goes or not. We have had to cancel twice due to windchills of -30. Incredibly, there were people angry at me for that decision.(?) I should have told them they could get the same experience by standing in their freezer. Fun fun!

Today is another borderline day. It will be ok weather wise - windchill around 20 so not bad. However, there are icy patches left over from the storm Tuesday that rocked through the state. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Charlotte, so I do read over the traffic/road condition updates, but  not being in the area where we ski, it is very hard to judge whether the roads are safe the entire route or not.

I decided we will go, drive slowly, and pray for the best. I never like it when the most dangerous part of a ski trip is not the skiing...it's the getting there.

But you know, that is sort of true with life. It is not the end goal that is the dangerous part so much as the getting there (at least for those who are going to Heaven. To those going to Hell, the end goal is not so peachy keen.) So many of us get waylaid by icy patches of sin and temptations. We slide off the road, unaware of the black ice dangers that lurk unseen, thinking we are excellent drivers and we don't need to worry like "normal" people. Those hidden patches of pride, anger, lust, greed, gossip, envy are all slippery traps. They come upon us unawares, and it doesn't matter how we react once we have hit them...we are sailing off the road.

We are doomed...unless we are fortunate enough to slam against strong guardrails. Shaken, but alive, we come to a stop, and peer over the abyss that would have been our fate but for those guardrails.

Jesus is my guardrail.

It would be much better to just avoid the black ice altogether. Still the spirit is willing, but the flesh is often weak.  Praise God for guardrails.

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Psalm 37: 23-24 , 39-40
23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.
39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
 he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.