Tumbleweeds And Guardrails

A morning drive to the airport provided a vivid picture. The guardrail that ran between the lanes of traffic was absolutely littered with tumbleweeds. These balls of dead vegetation are driven by the strong Colorado winds that pummel the flatlands that lie to the east of the Rocky Mountains. The tumbleweeds roll as long as their pathway is unrestricted. They will continue until something fixed and stable arrests their aimless roll.

This week, as I drove along E470, these tumbleweeds seemed to each have a name, a face, an identity. I thought of tumbleweeds that cross my path every day, driven by the prevailing cultural winds. Tumbleweeds on a mission to nowhere until something sure and stable says “enough!”

Vocation, status, education, wealth, and prominence do not provide adequate stopping power. In fact, they often fan the winds of uncertainty and insecurity that propel rather than secure.

It takes permanence to arrest the tumbleweed. It takes purpose and calling and obedience. At times it requires sacrifice to stop the forward progress of those caught in the power of cultural relativism. Intervention is messy and dirty and time consuming, yet in the end we don’t chase a tumbleweed. Instead we stand, rooted and grounded, unmoved by the torrent or the bluster. Abounding as we abide.

God’s people, those redeemed from their own free fall, will be the guardrail, the end of the road. The stopping point. We will not vanquish the wind, but we will stand against it. With resolve, with passion, with compassion, deeply embedded in the truth we stake our claim, we hold our ground.

Steadfast, immovable... a stopping place for the tormented soul.