"up ahead I see a sign..."

Road signs for the preacher, the father, the man of the house.

On the highway, signs alert motorists as to difficult places. They are instructed to drive carefully, to watch for obstructions. Here are 10 signs along the road. I have tried to condense my list, several times, but couldn't figure which one to delete... I pray it blesses and helps you today.

1. You are tired.

The sign on the highway might say: Warning, ministers of the Gospel, man of the house: For the next ten miles, you are tired. Your reactions will be slow, your mind is not sharp, you may find yourself in trouble before you know it.

We think of Elijah. After that great victory over the Canaanites at Mount Carmel, the exuberant man of God ran nearly 25 miles to Jezreel. Arriving there, he learned that Jezebel wanted him dead. Instead of reacting in faith--as he had done on the mountaintop--his fatigue betrayed him.

Jezebel's threats, her dogged worship of Baal, and her control over Israel burst his balloon and destroyed his confidence. Fearing for his life now, he fled, ending up at Beersheba, a hundred miles south.

When we are tired, we don't feel like reading our Bible or praying or doing the Lord's work. As Elijah was to find, what he needed was nourishment and sleep (I Kings 19:5-7).

The minister who thinks of himself as above the need for proper food and rest is setting himself up for a failure in a dramatic way.

2. You are angry.

The highway sign reads: Caution: Anger. Blurs your vision, hardens your heart, exaggerates your reactions. Pull over to the side of the road and get control of yourself.

We don't require a biblical example to teach us about the dangers of uncontrolled anger or the benefits of taming this lion. Paul advises, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). The point of that is to say

a. We all get angry from time to time, but

b. It needs to be dealt with promptly. Undealt-with anger is a poison which contaminates everything it touches and destroys every relationship.

My own experience says that when I am cold in my spirit--when I am out of fellowship with the Lord--I become critical of God's people and angry at the least offense. Likewise, when I am close to Him, I love those same people and am understanding and forgiving toward those who done me wrong.

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” can never be prayed by a angry man.

The anger, therefore, seems to be a "road closed" sign that would interfere with our loving people and building strong and lasting relationships.

Deal with your anger, pastor, husband, father. Do it before you leave the house today. Leave it at the foot of the cross.

Never do anything when you are angry… Your vision is blurred… your timing is off… our measuring of justice is out of balance.

“The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God”

3. When you are deeply wounded

The road sign reads Warning, your vision is blurred, your judgment impaired, your brain is scrambled. STOP!!!

Most heavy medications read “warning do not drive while taking this medication”. So are life decisions…don’t make a life changing decision while you are reeling from a major blow.

STOP!!

Ahithophel – Was a counselor to King David. He was also Bathsheba uncle… His words “were as the oracle of God”. How the mighty are fallen when they make decisions based upon bitterness and deep seated pain.

STOP!! Quit running... allow God to bring healing to your life and situation. He is the healer of the brokenhearted, He is the deliver of the captive,He still recovers sight to the blind, He still sets at liberty those who are bruised.

Can He do it for you? Yes... He did it for me!

4. You are bored.

The sign on the highway reads: Warning: Boredom. Be careful of distractions. Keep your hand on the wheel and your eye on the road.

We think of David. At the time when most kings were in battle defending their country, he stayed home. "But David remained at Jerusalem" (II Samuel 11:1). One night when he could not sleep, he rose from his bed and walked on his rooftop and spotted Bathsheba taking her bath. Nothing good followed that.

David had cleared off his schedule and had no important goals remaining before him. There was a void in his life at this point, making him a sitting duck for temptation.

Every man gets bored occasionally, no matter how exciting his ministry and how rewarding his relationships. It's human. What he does with the boredom may well determine whether the rest of his life is spent in fulfilling work for God or picking up the pieces of his ruined dreams.

Satan is no fool. He can see that you are bored. Idle hands,and idle minds are the devils work shop.

Full time ministry is to be full time... if it is not... be honest and go get a full time job. Is the allurement and status of full time ministry so alluring as to sacrifice your life, your call and your family?

The harvest is great, the need for labors is great, there is plenty to do... go full time, but go full time. This is the time to kick your prayer life and personal devotional life into high gear, child of God. Become a self starter... refuse to allow complacency to destroy your world.

So much of a mans self esteem comes from the labor of his hands.... do yourself a favor, find something to do, and do it well. You will feel better about yourself, and you will save your life, your ministry and your tomorrows.

Require of yourself what you expect of others.

5. You find yourself at a critical crossroads.

The sign on the highway reads: Intersection ahead. Decision time. Choose carefully your route because you will be on it the next 25 miles, or years.

A change of career, a change of direction in your ministry, a change of your understanding of God's will for your life---all are critical moments. They are dangerous times.

How to leave the stage is a much greater decision than how one entered the stage… your timing, your choice of successor, the finances… the gospel, the church, the people…

A much esteemed preacher I know resigned a large growing church in California and moved to a smaller one. Later, he admitted to me that he had made that decision at a bad time. "I was just exhausted," he said. "And when I got rested up, I was pastor of the wrong church."

In life there are no do overs.

6. You are lonely.

The highway sign reads: Loneliness makes you a target for temptation, lowers your resistance to impurities, and weakens your resolve. Get over it quickly.

Criminologists tells us that no one ever commits a crime without first justifying it. I suspect that those in the Lord's work who step across the lines of fidelity in marriage excuse what they are doing with protestations of loneliness.

Everything you are, everything you possess can be lost in a moment. A moment of gratification, a life of regret …

I have found that loneliness is often the call of God to prayer... Every time I have approached him while feeling low, there has been an instant connection. Have you ever considered that maybe God is lonely too?

You may be lonely. No one is saying otherwise. There is a great deal of unhappiness and even loneliness in many a marriage. And yet, that does not justify breaking the marriage vow.

This is not the place to go into all the cures for loneliness in life but my point is that this condition makes the man of God vulnerable to temptation and enticement.

I know of men who have crossed over the line, what ever pain of loneliness they may have experienced before the affair, is minor to the devastation, despair and loneliness that remains to this day.

Loneliness makes one so vulnerable. Be aware. Stay alert. Stay on your knees. Get help! Clear your head!

7. You are stressed.

The sign beside the road reads: Stress is a killer. Marital stress, financial stress, internal church stress--all these are signals that the bridge could be out on your highway. Slow down and pay close attention.

Stress is just another word for the pressures that close in upon us. We all have them. The only person without some kind of stress in his life is now resting comfortably in the cemetery.

Every marriage encounters stress. Every human has to deal with financial stress at one time or the other. And in church work, stress comes in boatloads--people conflicts, schedule conflicts, money problems, doctrinal clashes, personal disagreements, the list is endless.

By itself, stress is not bad. It's a given. It's always going to be there.

When you wish to build a muscle, you put stress on it. When God wants to build His children, He allows us to go through stressful times. The plan is that they will press us in closer to Him and emerge stronger than when they entered.

8. You are smug.

The signs read: Self-satisfied in your achievements? Smug in your contentment? Do not be surprised if you are blind-sided by some highway obstacle. You will be in the ditch gasping for air and never know what hit you.

The Apostle Paul said, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (I Corinthians 10:12).

“God don’t leave me like I am” This is a daily prayer in my life… It reminds me of how far I have to go to be like him, and reminds me of my complete dependence upon him for help and direction. The day I can no longer pray this and mean it is the day I am fixing to fall.

We come to God empty, and broken, and quickly assume it is our wisdom, intellect and abilities that are doing the work. Is it not the ultimate spiritual pride to assume we have arrived and are to be admired and looked upon as some sort of an example?

Praying - “God don’t leave me like I am” balances our achievements with our dependence upon him. I can do all thing through Him, but I can do nothing with out Him.

9. You are discouraged, maybe even defeated.

The sign on the highway of ministry reads: Beware of low places! Watch out for unexpected blowouts, failures, setbacks. They can wreck you permanently.

You've seen this happen: someone has a blowout on the highway and while working to repair the damage, gets hit by a passing motorist.

Breakdowns are bad enough, but often they bring other, more complicated problems. So, when you get a setback in life, be careful. Things could get far worse in a hurry unless you are careful.

Never forget that discouragement is one of the devil's great fields of play. You must not linger there long.

Find out the source of your real encouragement and go there as quickly as possible.

"Encourage yourself in the Lord."

"Who daily loadeth us with benefits…"

Failure is an event not a person… learn your lesson… put it behind you and walk on!!!

This is important, I want you to get it. You are not a failure because you fell, learn your lesson, put it behind you, and move on. The longer you linger around the scene of the accident the more likely you are to be caught up in another.

God forgives and God forgets... move on.

10. You are on a high. You Have just had a great success. Watch out.

The signs read: High place ahead! Alert. You may be distracted by the view or the thin air. Pay attention.

Remember the line in a couple of places in the Old Testament about "walking on my high places"? (Habakkuk 3:19 ) Whatever else a high place in life is, we can think of it as an "Everest" experience. The view is magnificent, the feeling is exuberant, but the air is thin and the footing is slippery.

So, after your great success--that wonderful growth, the applause of the crowd, the promotion over your adversary- whatever--be careful. This is a vulnerable time for you, man of God.

Be sober. Be vigilant.

Your enemy, your adversary, your opponent, the original slanderer, the one who hates you with a passion and would love nothing better than to sabotage your ministry,

He walks about like a roaring lion. Hungry, prowling, relentless, powerful, deadly.

Seeking whom he may devour. He comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Resist him, steadfast in the faith. (I Peter 5:8-9)

"But the God of all grace, after you have suffered a while, perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, and settle you.

To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." (I Peter 5:10-11)

Mickey Magum sang a song “Long and winding road”

V1
When I made my start for Heaven, I could only find one way,
A road that led me through the mountains and the valleys,
A road not many folks could take, When I started out on my journey, I left many many miles behind me, miles of tears and pain, miles of storms and rain, this roads been rough, but I again would choose the same….

Chorus
Long Winding road, keep leading me, up ahead I see a sign,
Pointing straight ahead to victory,
I know I must be traveling’ right, I remember passing by, Calvary, Yes I do, Yes I do,
Although it’s dusty and it’s old, for years it’s borne the traveler’s load, someday this road will turn to Gold.

V2
There are times when the rocks hurt my feet, my body burns from the sweat and heat, My strength completely drains, and my face marks the pain, my back is bent from the strain,
You see, I could turn back now, but the road is still there, and every mountain that I’ve climbed, I again would have to bear, so I really can’t turn back, some may be using’ my tracks, I see one more bend and it may be this road’s end…

I see a sign up ahead... I am not sure what it says yet... maybe it is a mileage sign... could heaven be just around the next turn?...I want to make it safely home... I want you to make it too... I can almost make out the next sign...

I have no regrets over the road I chose... I am praying for each of you today...

"some day this road will turn to gold"

lm