Tumbledown Landmarks

Owing to some blind spot I can't explain, I struggle to find my way anywhere. Even helpful maps or patient people giving directions don't ensure that I will head the right way, however simple the route is. And even if I succeed once in getting to my destination I may still get lost the next time ... and the next ... and the next. It is very frustrating. It is something I just have to live with.

One thing I find helpful is a landmark. If there is some outstanding feature along the road near where I am going, I home in on that, and it stops me overshooting and having to turn back. Even though the last couple of turns before I reach home are now familiar to me, the old red telephone box at the corner is a big help.

It was obviously a survivor from the days when they introduced the new style phone boxes. I remember the controversy that surrounded these. People in many towns and villages campaigned hard to keep the old red ones. They said they were a familiar sight and part of the English landscape and should not be changed. At the time I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. To me, it made sense to have the new type, as they blended in better where the red ones stuck out like sore thumbs.

Now, I'm glad of our cheery local red box. It reminds me of passages in the Bible which talk about landmarks. Deuteronomy 19:14 says, "Do not move your neighbour's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess." Boundary markers were sacred because they defined the allotted portion belonging to God's people in God's land. If they were stolen or neglected or misused, a serious situation arose. Someone might no longer know where his God-given stretch of land ended and another's began.

I say our local box is red. In fact it has faded to a pink colour and looks much the worse for wear. If it continues to be neglected it may in the end no longer be of any use in pointing the way.

Jesus is the landmark for all those who want to know the way to the Father. In fact, He is the way to the Father (John 14:6). Beware of thinking you know the way so well you no longer need the landmark!