The Crooked Path

Journal 2005 09 09
The Crooked Path

The storm has passed and the weather is once again “fair and worm”. The Corps is traveling north through the Bitterroot Valley along what is today’s Bitterroot River.

Old Toby points out a jump off point that leads east to the Gates of the Rocky Mountains about thirty miles below the point. Thirty miles and less than five days vs. many hard miles and fifty two days! The travelers make five more miles and when Old Toby informs the Captain Lewis they must leave the river and turn west Lewis tells the men to make camp. They have made about nineteen miles this day. Because the weather is fair and Captain Lewis desires to fix this point on their map with certainty he informs the men of his intention to rest as he makes the necessary celestial observations to fix the latitude and longitude of this spot. Lewis calls it “Traveler’s Rest”, a name which stuck and is a much visited spot today.

Even though it is recorded as simply part of the dialogue with Old Toby without any comment as to their bad luck in not taking the shortcut, can you imagine the emotional response to the news that the expedition could have been in this spot almost two months earlier?

I’m pondering my response to this news two hundred years later. My first thought is, “Why didn’t anyone tell us about this shortcut?” My second thought is, “We could have been to the Pacific Ocean and a good part of the way back in fifty two days!” No record of any missed opportunity, misfortune or bad luck. A tribute to the mindset of all the men of the Corps of Discovery. A continuing example to all today.

“Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?”
(Ecclesiastes 7:13) God has a predetermined path for your mission. The right path is not always the easiest path. Human wisdom says take the straight way, the level way, the easy way. Jesus says, “Follow Me.” His way. A light unto our path and lamp upon our feet. He marks the way He has for us to go and then lights the way.

The question for us today is which way is the right way? The shortest path or the pre-ordained path? The answer lies in another question. Do you want to walk in the darkness of the unknown or in the illumination provided by His light and His lamp?

I hope the answer is as simple as it appears. Let’s choose His light and His lamp and “proceed on” with no regrets no matter how crooked or straight the path. If we are following Jesus it will always be the right path.