Bumpy Way or Boggy Way - by James Newton

I snapped this photo of our driveway about six months ago. It was the middle of winter and we had just had a few days of significant rain fall. It’s a little bit hard to see but, in the wheel tracks to the right, there is quite a lot of erosion and to drive over, it can be quite bumpy. To the left, in the grass you can see quite a large rut. What happened is, someone tried to avoid the bumps on the right by moving over to the smooth grass on the left. But because of the significant rainfall, the grass on the left was very boggy and the person was lucky not to get stuck.

“So, what! What’s this go to do with anything James?” I’m glad you asked.

It got me thinking that this could be an analogy for following Jesus.

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve thought “this would be easier if I wasn’t a Christian”? I mean, maybe you’ve been faced with a moral dilemma, or a decision of some sort and the easy answer seemed to be the one that didn’t contain your set of Christian beliefs. I have. In a particular situation I was facing some years ago, I literally thought that. “If I wasn’t a Christian, this would be a lot easier!”

So, I was in this dilemma. Sticking with my Christian beliefs seemed like it was making the situation harder. Let’s call that “the bumpy way”. And ignoring my convictions seemed like it would make the situation easier. Let’s call that “the boggy way”. The boggy way is certainly the way that my heart wanted to go at the time. It’s the way that my feelings were pointing me. But, praise God, my Christian convictions remained stronger, and I stayed on the bumpy way. Boy, was it bumpy! But only for a little while. And, looking back years later, I’m so glad I stayed on the bumpy way because the boggy way would have had me… well, bogged.

I want to encourage you to stick with the bumpy way. When you confront a situation in life where you have a choice to stick with your Christian beliefs or let them go for a bit because it seems easier, experience and hindsight has taught me that by holding on to those beliefs you will always make it through. Hold on tight to Jesus – The Way might be bumpy and uncomfortable, but it’s better to make it through with a few scars than to get stuck in the bog.