Isaiah 46:11 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Last night I was confronted with a truth for which I did not have a complete answer ready. “But there is but one God.” In order to understand why that comment posed me any difficulty is hidden in the conversation. My issue was that we are all individuals and God treats us as individuals and the way that God treats us in order to draw us closer to Him isn’t always the same.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Yes, Jesus is the Way, but He comes and gets me where I am and leads me to the Father. Please not in Isaiah 46:11 that paths is plural. It seems difficult from a human standpoint to see Jesus as the Way without thinking of the Way as a path. The truth is that we are all different. We have different history. We have different teachers. We have different understanding.

If I were to walk from here to Washington D.C. there are many path choices I could make, with many different experiences along the way. If I have a guide to lead me, I have to depend on that guide to lead me to D.C. If I stray off that path I have to depend on Him to get me on a right path to D.C. which isn’t the same one I was on.

Would someone in Michigan come all the way down to my home to find the path I took to D.C., no, his guide would lead him on another path, different road signs and different experiences. The goal, the final destination would be the same, but I would follow Jesus to the Father.

How I know this with any certainty is that there are twelve gates to city. My road only lead to one of them.

Daniel 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Are you a person who writes and keeps journals? I have a long list of daily writings that I do not maintain. I occasionally go back to read those entries and find myself surprised at what I wrote. It is glimpse at that babe in Christ and what his impressions were. Some of it I can honestly say, who wrote that, surely not me. I’ve changed over the years and I would hope for the better. I would say that much of the innocence or ignorance of those early years is gone but I hope the passion has not.

I selected this passage from Daniel today for only one reason. While it does not deal directly with journals, it does indicate an attitude which I am aware of and need to be cautious about. As a writer of devotionals it is within my ability to relate journal entries as an example of how God has worked in my life. Those examples of the past might help others. It is my ancient history and not current.

The danger for me to avoid is in becoming a journalist. A journalist inserts himself into the story with personal perspectives and deep emotions. Journalist intend to move people, to stir emotions, to help make history as much as report it as it happens. As a servant of God the story cannot be about me.

The passage from Daniel is an example of one person voicing their concerns and by implication of concern is say; “What are we going to do about it?”

Revelation 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

I am merely a leaf, I am not the tree.