December 3, 2010- "El Camino Real"

December 3, 2010

Dear Ones,

During the last month I have had several opportunities to travel to various places in China usually with children in need of medical procedures. During those travels I have spent a lot of time watching the road or the train tracks as the country side as it passes by- sometimes faster than other times. I am so grateful that I enjoy traveling and especially that my parents were not afraid to load us all in the car for LONG trips, God has been teaching me so much about things I have to be grateful for and that early training is definitely one of those things! Now then, back to my “train” of thought on a couple of these trips. I began watching the road workers as we entered onto one of our longer road trips, for those following my blog it was the one to Beijing, I was once again struck by the fact that everything here is done by manual labor. There were men and women out sweeping the dirt from the side of the road with simple brooms they had made themselves. There were workers who were trimming the bushes, trees and grass along the median with hand clippers and placing the trimmings into small piles that were being picked up by hand and placed in a wooden cart that an older man was pulling along behind him. We arrived at one section of very nice highway and I noticed that the number of workers and the flurry of activity that they were in was for something out of the ordinary. I even began to see women with buckets and wash cloths washing the bright blue metal guard rail barriers, yes you know the ones that are grey and keep us from running into oncoming traffic, and they were washing them by hand! When I saw the stage filled with banners and the rows of chairs right in the middle of the freeway at one point I knew they were preparing for something big. I asked my Chinese friends what the occasion was and they explained that this portion of road had just been completed, it was brand new and so they were preparing for the opening ceremony, they were preparing the way for the officials. Then it struck me, “Prepare the way of the King.” As we near Christmas and the entrance of The King of Kings into a stable in Bethlehem and then we flash forward down the tracks of time some years later and is that not what happened on Palm Sunday a week before Christ walked the road to Calvary…there He was entering Jerusalem and the people covered the dusty road with their cloaks and palm branches, they wanted everything to be perfect for His entrance, His arrival. Sometimes I feel as though I am washing barrier rails with a bucket of water and a rag, as trucks and cars fly past with little regard for the fact that I am only a few inches from them and then I have to smile to myself and ask the question- “How clean will my guard rail be?” Am I making sure that my portion of the “King’s Highway” is ready for The King. There are days when I look back and realize that I have missed some spots, and unlike those women on the freeway, I cannot go back and polish them up but I can by His grace work harder from this point forward on the road to keep a closer eye on my guard rails and where my rag is cleaning, knowing that He will be the fresh water that will supply the washing bucket- unlike the muddy buckets of water that I watched those women dipping into time and time again. I love the way brings pictures like that to mind just so He can give me something to ponder, something to think about, and I sure had plenty of time for that as I watched the hours and the road go by. Then I couldn’t help but think of sharing it with you as you all take this journey with me. Thank you for being a part as we together, “Prepare the way of the King.”

With Love,

Mariah

“A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah 40:3-5