As a child, I vividly remember living in two distinctly different towns. The biggest difference may not have been obvious. Yes, the people looked different. In one case, I was in the majority. In the other, I was in a minority group under constant observation. Yes, the food was different. In one, spice was the exception. In the other, it was the norm. Other differences included culture, language, and sports. As opposite as these were, they miss the reason that the two cities were different from my perspective.
In one city, the roads had signs and directions could be found. In another, streets were unmarked and signage was in a unknown language. It was as if I were moving about in a fog even as I saw everything clearly! I could see scripts, but I had no idea what they said. I could recognize buildings and street corners. However, without street names and a map as a point of reference, I was lost.
In one city, I thought I could find my way. In another, I knew I had no chance of knowing the way.
I remember asking how we were going to get from one side to the other. I was a character out of an old story. “I said, ‘What do I do now, Master?’
He said, ‘Get to your feet and enter Damascus. There you’ll be told everything that’s been set out for you to do.’” (Acts 22.10)
The steps that followed in the new city without street names and signs did not point to a destination way into the future. They addressed the immediate. I knew my morning and how to walk down the hill to school. I understood the dirt roads around the compound so I could cycle to see a friend in my free time after school. Only later, did I learn how to get to my piano teacher’s house. It was weeks before I understood how to get to town.
I have no idea where today’s path will lead to in the future. I am not sure it matters.
