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Scripture for the day: Isaiah 35:8-9 "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.  But only the redeemed will walk there,"
Thought for the day: In Colorado there is a road I remember very well. There are many, actually; most of them involve hairpin turns, the danger of rock slides and spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains. The road I’m thinking of today, though, is east of the mountains and memorable for entirely different reasons. There are, I'm sure, many like it but this one caught my attention the first time I traveled it.  Leaving Colorado Springs to go east one is faced with two choices.  There is the well-traveled road that veers off to the Northeast through the town of Limon and meets Interstate 70 east of Denver.  Most people take that road because it appears to be a better way and will get them to their destination more quickly.  The other choice takes the traveler due east on a much smaller, less-traveled road through a tiny village called Punkin Center and off into Kansas.  
         As I traveled along this highway one day, I crested the top of a small hill and the sight before me almost took my breath away.  Oh, the landscape hadn't changed much for the past 20 miles or so; there were occasional islands of trees scattered about in the sea of prairie grass, usually marking a homestead where some pioneer had discovered enough water to sustain life and provide crops for him and his family in some by-gone era.  And the prairie itself was scattered with cattle and the occasional herd of antelope grazing on what new grass they could find.  No, the surrounding landscape hadn't change, and wouldn't for the next few hundred miles.  But coming over the top of that hill and looking down into the vast plain before me, I could see a greater distance than I'd perhaps ever seen in my life.  And in the middle of the scene spread before my eyes was the road I traveled, straight as an arrow, leading off into the hazy distance, almost as if it were beckoning me to stay the course with a hidden promise of satisfaction at the end of my journey.  I'd never seen such a long stretch of straight road as this and wondered at the sheer length of it.
        When I picture the Highway of Holiness described in Isaiah 35, I'm reminded of that road; straight, narrow, not very well traveled, but enjoyable, peaceful and full of promise.  And just as the road I traveled in Colorado was sparsely populated, so is that Highway the Lord has provided for those who will get up on it.  But it is a highway of hope.  Look again at today's scripture.  If we go back just a little way in Isaiah, the prophet speaks of judgment, destruction, fear and anger.  He pronounces doom on all who would dare defy the Lord of Heaven and earth.  Then, almost as a means of giving hope to those He's frightened, He reminds them that "The desert will bloom like a rose," and "waters will burst forth in the wilderness."  
        So "strengthen (encourage) the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees."  There is no need for fear no matter what might be happening; God will come; God will save.  And He will establish those who choose to go His way on the Highway of Holiness where peace is the order of the day.
Now go take on your world.  -  Bill