Life can often seem like a wilderness road, harsh, barren, stretching out before us with no apparent end in sight. I have a friend who has been ill for months. The doctors first thought it was one thing and then another, but no treatment makes a difference. Daily she faces the unrelenting misery of life on a wilderness road. Another friend finds her wilderness road in the reality of the impact of the economic downturn, with increasing medical costs gobbling up her fixed income and forcing hard choices she doesn’t want to make. A friend who is an aging widow experiences her wilderness road in the loneliness, diminishment, and limitations of life that encompass her day by day. Another friend feels like she’s on a wilderness road when all her efforts come to naught, when no one appreciates her loving kindness, her generous spirit. I have another friend who is struggling with auto-immune issues, doing everything she can to boost her immune system as she puts one foot in front of the other on her wilderness road. Yet another friend discovers her wilderness road in the mountains of work that overwhelm her way, looming toward her from all directions. Another friend, feeling the pain of her adult children’s unfortunate choices in their lives, sees her powerlessness to change the outcomes as the wilderness road in her life. Very probably, you have found yourself on a wilderness road from time to time. Take time to consider when and where you have experienced a wilderness road in your life.

You may have noticed that all my examples are women. I’m sure men experience the wilderness road in their lives as well, but the ones I know haven’t shared their pain, frustration and sadness with me. The good news for all of us, however, is that when we find ourselves on a wilderness road, we can trust God to send us just who or what we need to guide us on the way, just as he did for the Ethiopian eunuch in our lesson for today.