While shopping for equipment for a Bible School in Accra, a pastor suggested we have lunch in town. Always careful about my food, and especially suspicious of street vendors (even in my own country), I wasn't quite sure that was a good idea. The pastor assured me the food would be good and the restaurant clean, so I agreed.
We forced our way through the usual throngs of people on the sidewalk and entered a large department store. TV's here, clothes over there, house wares in another section. The store was well organized, clean, and well supplied. However, apparently it occupied what had once been several different buildings, or was perhaps built at different times without a master plan in the beginning. Some departments were down a few steps, others were up a flight of steps, and some occupied what should have been a wide hallway between departments. I just followed the pastor, and sure enough, upstairs and through the stereo department was an excellent restaurant.
What really caught my attention as we took the different flights of stairs to the restaurant was the inconsistency in the steps, even within the same flight stairs. Some steps were a comfortable 5 or 6 inches high and deep enough for the largest shoe, other steps were 3 or 4 inches high and very narrow, and others seemed 9 or 10 inches high. There was no discernible order. This was not a stairway to attempt in the dark or with packages blocking the view of your feet!
Even as I made my way up the stairs, I was thinking, "These stairs are just like life. Inconsistent, unpredictable, and uneven. I have to watch where I'm going, or I'll trip and fall."
I like my stairs to be straight, even, and consistent. And that's the way I like my life. I like to know exactly what to expect, where to expect it, what its going to feel like, and how much energy to exert to get there. But life is seldom like that. In life, as in the department store in Accra, I must pay attention. The next step may not be where I expect it to be.
I am confident that God, the Master Builder, has prepared a way for me to arrive exactly where he wants me. But I've never been there before, and the way before me may not be as smooth and easy as I would like. I have to keep my eyes open, watch where I plant my feet, and follow the leader. He knows where we're going. He doesn't want me to get bored along the way; He wants me to pay attention. But the end is worth the journey.