I spent a total of over eight months living in a camp in the desert of
the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. This included the Christmas season and
the change of the year from 1965 to 1966. There were about forty of us
living in a camp, and we were working on the first oil pipeline ever
built in that country.
One of the problems that we had was what
to do on the many days off that we had. Not only did we observe all the
Christian and western holidays, but also all the many local Muslim holy
days. For a lot of us, these days off were tedious, because there was no
place to go and not much to do. Many of us were bored and lonely,
especially on days that to us were important to be with family and
friends. New Year's Day was one of them.
A colleague decided that
we should have a car rally on New Year's Day, an activity that would be
interesting and take up a big part of the afternoon, and he asked me to
help him lay it out. We took various signs out into the countryside and
placed them in certain locations indicating where the driver and his
companion should go. However, the signs were all to be read carefully.
For instance, there was a sign that said, "Turn left at the three ginger
ale cans hanging from a tree on the right hand side of the road." But in
actual fact, there were three Pepsi cans in the first tree, and many
turned left at that point and ended up lost because the three ginger ale
cans were further down the road, and that is where they should have
turned. All the signs were like that, and they were all meant to mislead
the drivers. The result was that the men in the car rally were "running
to and fro", trying to find their way, because they had misread the
signs.
And isn't that the way it is in life so often? People are
looking for things to make their life more enjoyable. Some are searching
for peace in their hearts, but so many are misreading the signs. They
are turning at the wrong time, and many are running to and fro, trying
to find their way.
The Bible tells us to look to Jesus.
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28 NKJV)
"Seek the Lord while He
may be found, call upon Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6 NKJV)
Prayer: Our
Father in heaven, as we stand near the beginning of a new year, we pray
that people will make a New Year's resolution to seek Your will in their
lives, and that they will indeed find peace in their hearts through the
words of Scripture. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Joel Jongkind
Meaford, Ontario, Canada
Thanks to
PresbyCan Daily Devotional
