Trails and towers
I saw something once that really got my attention. I’m not sure if it was a daydream, a vision, or something else, but it was vivid. In total transparency, I’m still not sure what to do with it, but there’s a reason I saw it.
A bit of a backstory first, and then I’ll lay it out for you. In one of the oddest seasons of my life, I was a middle school cross-country coach. I wasn’t the coach because I had ever run cross country, but rather because I was a runner, and I was available. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to qualify for the job, and so I got it. I had to learn a lot in a short amount of time, and I was thankful that others who also ran, and definitely knew more than I did about running, were willing to help.
Yes, Gwen, that last sentence was about you.
Anyway, one of the things I learned was that runners have a natural tendency to relax when they see the finish line, and so we had to train our team to always sprint to and through the tape (ok, there wasn’t really any tape, but they knew what we meant).
All of us do this. It’s why most people fall asleep at the wheel within a mile or two of their destination. The brain thinks, “I made it,” even though the drive isn’t quite over.
Which brings me back to the dream, or whatever it was. I heard the breathing of someone running in the woods trying to stay ahead of whoever, or whatever, was coming up fast behind him. Branches smacked his face as he looked behind him and then ahead. He was desperate to escape, and I saw his face as he stepped into a small clearing that allowed him to look up.
That’s when he saw the tower, or, more specifically, what the Bible refers to as a strong tower. At once, he relaxed, and when he did, he was overtaken by what was chasing him.
I woke up, or came to, or whatever you do after experiencing a thing that you don’t know what to name, and wished I could have normal movies in my mind.
But here’s what I’ve come to think about that vision. Are you okay if I call it that, because I really think it would be easier to call it something, and that seems more accurate than a dream? Dreams sometimes aren’t true and sometimes don’t come true, but this felt a lot more tangible than just a dream.
Sorry, back to how I’ve come to interpret the vision of the man who died near the strong tower. Too often, we let our guard down when we see the end, forgetting that we aren’t actually at the end.
We fall asleep at the wheel a mile from home.
We relax and get passed within yards of the finish line.
Seeing safety and being safe are two critically different realities, and we would be wise to know the difference.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe. (Proverbs 18:10, emphasis mine)
Did you catch it? The Lord is a strong tower; He always has been, and He always will be. But it’s the ones who run to Him that are safe. And the one thought that kept bouncing around in my mind after the vision was this: have we been content to build towers of safety without also blazing trails to help people get to them? Are we celebrating in safety while people perish within sight of the party? And if so, who’s responsible for the trail?
I wish I had answers. What I do have are the experiences of the tower and the trail. I’ve built youth groups, organizations, and churches that stood as very obvious houses of safety, and even told myself that we were open to anyone who might enter the doors. And here’s the thing: we were, and are, open. But being open isn’t the same as being available, or accessible, and at this stage of my ministry, I’m more burdened than ever to get out of the tower and blaze the trails that lead people to it.
Why such a passion? Because I’ve also been the person on the trail, looking at the tower, and wondering how to get to it, and how to get inside it. Trust me, seeing a safe place is awesome until you realize that you don’t have a way — or the energy — to access it.
Let’s build the towers of refuge, but let’s also blaze the trails that lead people to them. Lives could literally depend on it, and that, friend, isn’t a vision or a dream. It’s reality.
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