Out Our Way: Take A Side Road - 1 Corinthians 2:9

Out our way, old Highway 2 is mighty busy. I heard it said it is the longest two-lane highway in the country. We see a lot of trucks and such, but also tourists coming to Montana to see the sights. Most are on their way to Glacier and look forward to the spectacular views that are world famous. I suspect we can understand why so many of them passing through the Hi-Line region don't bother to really look around for, to their mind, "there's nothing there." 

Ah, but we who live here know better.

We who have played in Beaver Creek Park, wandered through the Bear Paws, gone berry picking in some of the off the main highway side roads ... well, we know there is a lot here. I have been to Glacier and to Yellowstone. I have been to the Flathead Lake and wandered in the Bitterroot - and it is spectacular! But I have also ridden up on Tiger Ridge in the late afternoon, listened to the meadowlarks, breathed deep the smell of sage and cattle, and watched a rain storm in Canada on the horizon while basking in the sunshine of a cloudless sky over Montana. I have been to the Bear Paw Battlefield and walked where Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce made their last stand. I have driven past places where Kid Curry, Butch Cassidy and Sundance once rode and holed up. I have visited places so spectacular that Charlie Russell used them for backgrounds of some of his best known paintings. I have heard the elk bugle and watched large herds of antelope skim across the prairies - and yes met a mountain lion or two along the way. My point is, how often do we say "there's nothing there" simply because we never really bothered to look?

In our present cultural struggle for the soul of the nation, a good many folk feel about God the way some tourists feel about the Hi-Line. They assume "there is nothing there." But is it because there really is nothing but emptiness as many cultural leaders now insist? Or is it because they have never looked any further than the barren road they travel? 

I love the Hi-Line - but old Highway 2 can seem a pretty dull place for long stretches to the tourist who has no idea what lies beyond their limited line of sight. We who live here know there is something there, for we have lived it and experienced it and loved it. We have gone off the highway and explored the incredible treasures the big open offers to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

From time to time we all get discouraged and disheartened in this life. Sometimes it does seem God has gone AWOL and we begin to feel "there is nothing - and Nobody - there." Maybe it's time to get off the old highway we've been traveling all this time and do a little exploring. What was it the Boss said? Something about "ask and it will be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7). But you may have to take a detour off the main road to do that.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].