Rough Road

Rough Road
by Brodie Swisher

Several years back, while on an elk hunt in the high country, I found myself and a couple of buddies in a pickup truck slippin’ and sliding our way up a muddy mountain road in the early hours before daylight. We were in a race against the clock to arrive at the trailhead with ample time to hoof it in to our location to listen for bugling bulls as the day began to break. The road was nasty and rough…and my buddy was driving way too fast. With windshield wipers working overtime to keep the rain and mud from the windshield, visibility was questionable at times. And one of those questionable times is when it happened. In our mad scramble up the mountain, our driver failed to recall the rough spot in the road. It was a washed out spot in the road that needed careful attention to traverse.

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We hit it at what seemed like 45 mph! The truck went flying! I was in the back of the cab and my face quickly met the back of the front seat resulting in an early morning bloody nose. I was lucky. The passenger in the front seat met the windshield. Somehow he didn’t crack the glass, but he sure managed to blacken his eye and make his already-ugly face even less attractive. The unharmed driver simply said, “Man! This road is getting a little rough!” Hey, if you haven’t figured it out already, tough times in life are sure to come. They are part of the journey we all must face. Sometimes we adhere to the warning signs. Other times we blow right past in our mad dash to other things that hold our attention.

I love the hope and encouragement found in John 16:33 where Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

There will be no shortage of rough roads to come in our lives as we take this short ride toward our eternal destination. When those times come, I pray you find the peace that passes all understanding as you draw close to the One that has overcome and conquered even our greatest crisis.

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