Horses built England.
If you don’t believe me, just take a journey from any town or city to a country estate like the ones you’ve seen in our popular periods dramas. You might begin your journey on nicely built motorways—smaller versions of the highways you see in the States—but before long you’ll be dashing through tiny interconnected country roads, hedged in by, well, hedges, all with the same speed limit as the formerly mentioned motorways. You can’t see more than ten metres ahead of you for the most part, and worst of all, there’s the pot-holes.
As someone with significant spinal damage, and an unhealthy dose of motion-sickness, you’d be unsurprised to hear that I’m not the greatest fan of car journeys. They’re unpleasant and painful, and invariably seem far longer than they actually are.
By the time we reach our destination, I’m just glad to get out and walk around. We could be visiting recycling plant and I’d be grateful. Then, after spending a few hours learning to differentiate between tin and aluminium1 I’d have to face the same journey all over again, but this time in the dark.
We’d like to think that the paths between the different stages of our lives could be easygoing, straight, and entirely pain-free. Usually, however, we have to take some roads built for horses instead. The two articles I have to share with you today are about childhood and old-age, but whatever age you are, they have so much to teach you. We rarely know when a sudden turn will turn into a pot-holed mess of a journey, but I can guarantee that they will come eventually.
In the end, however, we can trust that however aggravating those roads might be, that God knows the destination, and he’s taking us there as quickly as is necessary. Horses might have built England, but God built you.
Grace and Peace,
Adsum Try Ravenhill is married to Anna and together they are passionate about seeing men and women discipled within the context of the local church. You can find Adsum through his writing at The Raven’s Writing Desk and you can also find Adsum’s articles for GCD here.
Last Week at GCDiscipleship.com
A Game of Hide-And-Seek: How Shame Keeps Us from The Father’s Forgiveness
By Bethany Broderick
“Where are you hiding?”
I call out my daughter’s name while peeking under the table and in the pantry. My voice rises in frustration as the search continues. “Please come out when Mommy calls for you!”
How Not to be a Grumpy Old Woman
By Melody Richeson
“My ninety-eight-year-old mother recently passed away after living with me for three years. When I spoke at her memorial service, I said, “You could not do what I did for an easier person. She was grateful, cheerful, and never complained.” Watching her made me wonder what sort of old person I will be. Churches hold parenting retreats, marriage conferences, and seminars on managing finances, but have you ever heard of a church that offered a seminar on how to grow old?”
This month I use an article by GCD staff writer Tim Shorey called “Christian Displays of Affection” to talk about the principle that good writing anticipates questions. In the video I play a section of an episode of the Home Row podcast where J.A. Medders interviews Justin Taylor. The interview is about a list Taylor compiled of fifteen pieces of writing advice from C.S. Lewis. I highlight a recent essay by Jen Pollock Michel called “Why ‘Lone’ Artists Need the Church” where she helpfully anticipates questions. I also mention the book The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.
Yes, I went there.