The Road Work Is Finally Finished

Did you know that God has set up a mileage marker? God has placed a mileage marker out there on the circle of grief. That marker is the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is a mileage marker for our grief, because on the cross there is one who identifies with our grief, one who absorbs our grief into himself. "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." The cross of Christ means that God Himself enters into our painful losses and directs them. The crucified Christ shows us that grief and pain can finally lead us somewhere.

Paul puts it this way: "We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy spirit ... For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life."

The cross is a mileage marker. It tells us we are making progress. Look at all the way stations. Suffering produces endurance; and endurance character; and character hope. Hope; growth. For when you and I see the crucified Christ, we see God Himself, entering into our most anguishing experiences and taking them into Himself. And there as he bears our griefs and carries our sorrows, we find that we do not have to stay in the endless cycle of grief. He leads us from grief through endurance to character to hope, through His cross.

Grief, like the Beltway, goes nowhere. But the cross is a mileage marker, inviting us to cast all our cares on Christ, who will take us from grief to hope and give us life.

II

But there is not only the issue of grief. There is also guilt. Both grief and guilt dog our tracks; both grief and guilt must be dealt with.

So, I have another observation about the Beltway. Have you noticed that not only does the Beltway not go anywhere, just a circle; but also have you discovered that the Beltway has never been finished? Thirty years old and still not finished, once and for all?

Yes, they opened it with a flourish not very far from here in August of 1964, cutting ribbons at the interchange with New Hampshire Avenue. But later they pushed in the ramps from 1-95, causing changes in the New Hampshire Avenue intersection; and then, when the plans for I-95 were shelved, they rebuilt those ramps and made more changes at New Hampshire; and as soon as that was done, they installed soundproof walls up to and including New Hampshire; and while the last wall panel was being put into place, they announced plans to rebuild the bridges and ramps at, guess where, New Hampshire; and now that that is finished, what do we have? Overnight closings so that a new surface can be put down; and where? New Hampshire Avenue. Don’t I wish I had stock in the company that makes and rents those Jersey barriers!

So, is the Beltway finished? No. No. Never has been and probably never will be. Road work never seems to get finished.