The Path is Waiting
A story* is told about a man who left his village for many years. He returned after accumulating great wealth. While everyone welcomed him, he wanted to know who were his real friends.
After calling together the village, he said, “I have hidden treasures for you along the path down to the river. Whatever you find, you may keep.”
Some of the villagers began racing down the path. “We know this path well,” they said. When they reached the water’s edge, they saw nothing. “There are no treasures; he lied,” they said as they walked away.
A second group became fixated on the soil making up the path. Discussing among themselves, they decided to return to the village and analyze the makeup of the soil. They never continued down the path.
A third group began to slowly move down the path. “We can trust this man,” they said. Sure enough, someone quickly pointed out an overgrown thorn bush had been cut back. They came to where a huge tree had fallen across the way, but it, too, had been removed.
Commenting on how their friend had made the path itself a gift, suddenly there was a shout. Sitting just off the path were several new cooking pots. Then a bag of sugar was discovered, followed shortly by several bags of rice.
By moving slowly and trusting the generosity of their friend, the third group discovered the true gifts the path had to offer.
In Bible Storytelling training, this parable illustrates how every story in the Bible is a path. Many of us race down these familiar stories or get sidetracked. We often miss the gifts waiting to be discovered.
The joy of our work is sharing these paths with African leaders, together discovering the gifts of our Good Friend. Our prayer is that as they share these biblical pathways, their communities will be enabled to discover the treasures that are waiting.
This week in your own walk, what gifts are waiting to be revealed along the pathways of scripture? Or with whom could you walk down a biblical path, enabling them to discover some of God’s awaiting treasures?
As always, the Path awaits.
*The Path Is Waiting story is an illustration taken from the Simply the Story Training. For more information, go to www.simplythestory.org.
Follow the pathway of scripture from the Word and Deed sections of the World GO! Manual this week. And if you have already checked the World GO! Manual off your missions study list, share this article with someone who needs to discover God’s awaiting treasure for them.
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