"Crossing the Street in Vietnam" - by Rev. Weldon Bares

I recently joined a two-week small group tour of Vietnam. Vietnam is a beautiful country of 102 million people.

The people were so welcoming and friendly. The food was superb and the scenery was remarkable. The coffee was excellent, especially with some kinds of coffee I had never heard of, including egg coffee and salt coffee. It doesn’t sound good, but trust me, it was.

The most challenging part the trip for me was crossing the streets in the large cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

When I first tried, the traffic looked chaotic. There was an endless stream of scooters and motorcycles coming from every direction. There were no clear breaks. There was no obvious right-of-way.

My instinct was to wait for the traffic to let up. But that never happened. Standing on the curb, I realized that if I waited until everything felt safe, I would be standing there forever.

Our guide told us how to do it. He said, “Just walk into the street, walking steadily forward and be consistent. Don’t stop and go but be consistent.” He said, “The scooters will adjust and go around you.”

As crazy as it sounds, that is what I did. And guess what? As I walked into the street, the scooters adjusted and flowed around me. I always made it safely to the other side, not because the road suddenly became safe, but because I was walking predictably. Hesitation - stopping and starting - would have been so dangerous.

I believe the same thing is true in our faith. So often, we want God to clear the road and stop the traffic before we move. But that rarely happens. Instead, God asks us to walk forward with faith. Don’t stop and start but keep on walking. God will get us to the other side!