9.10.24

Hoboken, NJ has been my new home for almost two months now. Hoboken sits across the Hudson River from New York City. I’ve spent most of my life in Ohio and the last three years in Wisconsin, so Manhattan and the Tri-State area has been a serious change of pace. I have been forced to rely heavily on Apple Maps and Waze to get around.

Initially, I felt like I had a better chance understanding neuroscience than navigating the NYC subway system. Thankfully, Apple Maps can direct this clueless Ohioan from one train to the next. Then when I emerge to the streets from the subway, it feels a lot like waking up from a long Sunday nap – you have no idea where you are or what is going on. However, I can have maps open on my phone and physically point my phone in a direction to figure out if I should walk right or left. Incredible.

The traffic around the city has tested my faith many times. It is unpredictable and turns good people into aggressive monsters… so I’ve been told. One saving grace has been the Waze app, which leads me around traffic in real time and helps me avoid the crazy toll fees. Another amazing asset to city living. I am sustained daily by my iPhone’s location tracking and mapping features.

The other day, I read a verse in the Psalms which served as a gentle reminder: much like Apple Maps has guided me through the uncharted waters of NYC, God so graciously gave us the Bible to guide our lives.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light to my path.” – Psalms 119:105

The Bible is different from other books. The Bible doesn’t pilot us to advice or solutions, it leads us to a person. The Bible points us to Jesus and his amazing grace. Paul David Tripp describes this amazing grace so well, ”Amazing grace which exposes your blindness while giving you eyes to see. Grace which confronts the reality that you’re less than you thought but comforts you with the promise you can be more than you ever imagined. This grace is not a theology – grace is a person and his name is Jesus.”

For the mountains and valleys of life, we have been given the word of God. Through the fog, God makes his word a lamp for our feet so we can take even just one step closer to Jesus and see that he’s already running after us.

While my phone can take me from A to B, the Bible can take me right into the love of Jesus my soul longs for. I’m thankful for the moments when God chooses to open my eyes, and every time he does, I always find a well lit path, even if it means taking the subway to follow it.