Drive through the Midwest for long enough and a surreal experience begins to overtake you. The highway cuts across the flat landscape and disappears into the horizon with no sign of ever relenting from its monotonous course. Staring off into the distance you begin to fear that you are not on the interstate at all, but that somehow you unwittingly passed into an alternate reality consisting of a never ending cornfield. The “cornfield world” continues infinitely in every direction and there is nothing that you can do except follow path set by the double-yellow line, which is not yellowy-orange by accident. Fortunately the rumble strips usually jar you from the momentary lapse of rationality, and then something altogether unexpected awaits the persevering soul.
The endless plains of the Midwest eventually give way to a breathtaking range of mountains that rise almost miraculously out of the flat expanse. Within this chain of towering peaks blanketed with snow and sweeping slopes adorned with wildflowers, there winds a remarkable line. It runs along the uppermost heights, cutting the earth in two, all while remaining hidden from the eyes of men. Yet anyone fortunate enough to explore the high country has surely crossed its path and will not soon forget the moments when they did.
It is called the Great Divide, and it severs the watershed of the entire continent. All the water on one side eventually flows to the Pacific. Everything on the other side ultimately empties into the Atlantic. This means that snow which literally falls only a few feet apart will end up separated by thousands of miles. There is something instructive – even prophetic – which God seems to have placed in this feature of His handiwork. Those lofty heights hold within them a message of great relevance to our day. Will there be a comparable line of demarcation that cuts through the landscape of Christianity in this generation? Are ideas, movements, and lives that appear so similar right now actually on a course toward opposite destinations? Check out part 2 tomorrow for more.
This post is part of the series titled Jesus at the Crossroads. If you would like to support this website and Stephen’s ministry, simply give via the Paypal link on the right or click here for more information on specific needs and different ways to partner with Stephen financially.
