Just A Thought

 I have had the privilege of visiting many famous streets in the world. Here are a few:

·      Bourbon St. in New Orleans, LA

·      6th St. in Austin TX 

·      Boston Post Rd. (US Rt 1)

·      Wall St. and Broadway in NYC

·      The Via Dola Rosa in Jerusalem

·      Lombard St. in San Francisco CA

·       Champs-Élysées in Paris, France

·      Route 66 and The Pacific Highway

·      Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. 

·      The Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland

·      Santa Monica and Sunset Boulevards in Los Angeles, CA

But not one of those streets really changed my life. I’m not even real sure why some of them are so famous. I also noted that some of them were rather ordinary or even below average, if you happened on a particular segment of the road. Yet, they represent glamour, money, fame or romance; people dream of visiting or living at one of those addresses. 

I do remember when my life was significantly affected on a street. My wife and I were traveling through a town in Montana and had just stopped to get a milkshake. As we pulled out onto the busy highway we came to a stop at a red light. Although the incident took place forty years ago, I remember it well. I was waiting for the light to change and taking pity on my milkshake when suddenly we were violently jarred, and I saw my shake flying toward the windshield. A newly licensed teenager was trying to impress his friends and failed to even brake. His carelessness totaled my car and gave me whiplash that has cause me physical discomfort for decades. That street changed my life, but to be honest, I don’t even remember the name of the street, or the town we were passing through. My point is: life is more about living that it is about places or even status.

God has given each of us the gift of living, not just gifts for living. With His help, we can live on any street. The name or status of the street is not important. How people live there is what matters to them and to those close to them. It is people who are living well and loving well that eventually make the name of the street meaningful to those whose lives they touched. 

There are some streets that were very important to my life: 

·      The one I grew up on

·      The one I built a house and two churches on

·      The one I lived on for twenty years after moving to New England

People made those streets important. Life is where you live. Don’t try to live elsewhere.

While giving marriage counseling the Apostle Paul gave this advice: “And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.” (I Corinthians 7:17 msg) He spoke from experience, because he found himself in many difficult situations as he attempted to share the Gospel.  But God helped him make peace with living by embracing misfortune and opposition and living with a positive attitude anyway. As a result, the life he lived affected billions of people over a period of 2000 years.

Always wanting to be someone or somewhere else is a waste of life. Usually when you get to a famous street or learn about a famous person, you discover that their life has the same kind of challenges and glitches that your life has. But no one has been given the unique opportunity you have to live your life, right there on your street. 

# posted by John W. Hanson @ Saturday, August 09, 2025