Skip to main content

Roads, Where We're Going We Don’t Need Roads



It had been a very wet year in Iowa in 1909.  Also, that year had seen a boom in sales in automobiles; the Model T had come out that year.  So that winter the citizens of Iowa realized that it sure would be nice if they had a paved road that crossed the state.  To get it accomplished, during the rest of the winter, officials contacted all the communities along the route and had them to get together supplies for construction of an interstate when it got warmer.  On one Saturday in the summer of 1910; everyone went to the road at 9 a.m. sharp and started paving.  One hour later, the road was done, and by evening, all the road signs were up.  It wasn't a terrible rush job either, it was widely recognized as the “standard of the world” and would be the template for all interstates to come.

The fact that they'd built a 380-mile-long road in one hour was pretty unbelievable, but even more unbelievable is what happened next.  The convoluted journey the road took from physically existing to officially existing as a state highway.  It only took an hour to build, but it took 10 years for the government to make it a formality.  First, it took three years to create the State Highway Commission.  Then three more years for the roads sponsors to get the letters to get it registered.  Then months and months of paperwork, delays, bureaucratic mix ups until finally it could become an “official road”.  One hour, one Saturday morning to build, ten years to get it approved.

            I have done some work for organizations that behaved the same way.  Hours of meeting and discussion, lots of hoops to jump thru, egos to be stroked, axes to be ground, all to take care of one simple task.  It can be maddeningly frustrating.  I have also seen similar things in the church.  Task that needs to be done, good works to be taken care of, great ideas ready to be implemented that come to a grinding halt, not because of a lack of willingness to work, but because of the poor communication and organization.  It seems we can’t get out of our own way.  I wonder how many great things could be built like this, if we just concentrated more on what needed to be done and less on all the other less important things, like who gets credit, who gets to be in charge, what everyone else is doing, what people will think or say.
            In the church we are not interested in building roads, but we are very interested in following the path to heaven.  That road is set, but we still are working to travel that path and get as many people on that road as well.  What if instead of putting us on the 10 year plan of infighting, complaining, bickering,  power struggles, and quarreling, we rolled up our sleeves got out our pick axes and shovels and got to work.  What could we accomplish in an hour, a day, a year?  There is great work to be done, are we in the way or on the way? 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mysterious Ways

    William Cowper didn’t see any reason to live.   He decided that he’d jump off the bridge over the Thames. So, he called a cab to take him there.   But that night in 1763, a thick fog enveloped London. It was so thick the cab driver couldn’t find the bridge and couldn’t even find the way to take William home. In frustration, he ordered the driver to stop and get out to get his bearings. He walked up to the nearest house to read the number and it was William's house. Gone now were William’s thoughts of suicide and instead a new idea came into his head. So, he went in and wrote these words: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.  You fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.     I sometimes wish we could see all the ways God watches over us when need it. There are...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gift You Give Yourself

    I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me.   There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15).  I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven.  So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives.  When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...
Post a Comment
Read more