I had a series of random thoughts today. I was driving down a highway that is being upgraded from two small lanes to four divided lands. I seldom drive that way but I was trying to avoid being caught behind a school bus on my way home. Ever have a landmark on a familiar drive that you really look forward to seeing? On this drive mine is a second-hand appliance store. Someone has carefully painted "Refiguators for Sale" on the front window. It cracks me up each time I see it. I have decided if ever I need a 'refiguator' I am buying it there! I began wondering what would happen to the merchants along the old highway. Surely their business was dependent on drivers stopping in to see what they sold. The old highway will almost certainly be deserted in favor of using this new bypass. Tourists would cease stopping in to see and businesses will likely fold.From there my mind went to the old saying "location, location, location" as being the most important consideration when buying real estate. I began to recall businesses and homeowners I know that have done well because of their locations and some that have disappeared for want of traffic. Then I skipped to all I had learned in history about how towns would thrive or perish based on their proximity to the next important event or resource. Before I knew it I was thinking about the location of Christ's earthly ministry and his crucifixion. Major trade routes and thoroughfares like the Via Maris and The Kings Highway allowed news about Jesus to travel far and wide. They were the 'information super highways' of their day.
My mind hopped and skipped through a lot of thoughts until I was wondering why Jesus was born then and not now. Now we have the ability to receive information and 'see' things in record time. I began to do some wild speculation about what Peter would be like in 2008. What mischief would the "sons of thunder" be up to in order to earn that title if they were here now? Between cell phones and the Internet, there wouldn't be a moment of the disciples lives that weren't televised and broadcast.
Not all speculation is profitable. I reminded myself that I had said that last week at the women's bible study I attend. We were asked by the author of the study to speculate on what Barabbas was thinking when the crowd released him and demanded Jesus be scourged and crucified. They also asked what we thought Peter felt after denying Christ and when Jesus asked him "Peter, do you love me?" I readily admit the questions bothered me- so how were my speculations different?
As I approached home I decided that our sinful natures would never appreciate the sanctification process that occurred in the lives of the apostles if we had a modern day play-by-play. We would pick each action apart, bickering and debating while endlessly rewinding and pausing different moments to offer proof that we were right. Or, worse yet, we would completely miss the point of sanctification being a personal work of the Holy Spirit. We would try to duplicate our favorite apostle's life in some vain, formulaic attempt to reproduce their sanctification in our lives.
My last thoughts as I backed into the garage.... Dang! I forgot to see if my favorite store was still there! I wonder how many people have told the owner of the appliance store they misspelled refrigerator?
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