How Many Different Routes are There?

By: Shawn Weaver

I was recently explaining to a driver how to find a stop in Brooklyn, New York. He was looking at a map and describing which roads he was going to use. I told him there’s one massive problem, and many of you know what that is. You have to use the truck routes.  

For any of us who have driven in the cities of our nation, we know that not all streets are allowed to have trucks. In New  York City, it is required that trucks use designated truck routes to get as close as they can to their destination. On a map,  these routes may look random and even chaotic. However, as we look closer, we can see that many times these routes are on streets that are better for truck traffic. They are wider streets that can help us go around some low bridges, some residential neighborhoods, and some impossible turns.  

I say some because we also know that cities were not really designed for trucks. We must know our rig in order to navigate these areas well. Even if we can see on a map that a certain street goes straight to our destination, it may not work quite as well as we planned. We all have our ideas as to how we are going to get to our destinations. Nobody on earth is trying to go nowhere. Whether our destination is wealth, rest, peace, or happiness…we all have a way in mind. The problem is that there are many unforeseen challenges ahead of us.  

As much as we would like to, we cannot know our future. We are all blind when it comes to knowing even the next several minutes of our lives. A massive industry has been built up around this vulnerability. Fortune telling, tarot cards, horoscopes,  and other spiritist sources, have made a business out of helping us to “know” the unknown. John 14:6 says, “Jesus said, ‘I  am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” We are all created beings.

We are masterfully designed for a purpose. That purpose is the only thing that will truly fulfill us.

Jesus is the only way to our creator and our purpose.

We might think we see other routes to where we want to be, but we will eventually find out that His designated way was better. I invite us all to let go of control and to trust Him. He knows us, the future, and the low bridges.