Crossing the Street - you thought your mom taught you

Traffic is a funny thing.  Here in Phnom Penh there are a variety of vehicles that can be found on the roads.  Car, trucks, buses, motos, bicycles, three wheeled tuk tuks, fruit carts, and more.  That does not account for the variety of animals you might run into as well.  For most of the day the traffic flow is rather heavy, so crossing the street can be a challenge.

[caption id="attachment_108" align="alignright" width="150"] Phnom Penh - Traffic[/caption]

I do not know about you, but my mom taught me to come to the edge of the street, look both ways and when no one was coming, cross to the other side.   In my late teens I traveled to London, and was saved a few times, by the signs painted in the road reminding you to look right.  I was always looking the wrong way and would have stepped out into traffic.  Obviously that has happened too often, thus the signs.

However in Cambodia a sign painted on the street would not help.  The traffic, or vehicles can come from any direction, or all of them at the same time.  It took me quite a while to learn how to drive, in the craziness, but somehow it flows together.

This is how it works, because the vehicles are coming from multiple directions, so the traffic is never really moving rapidly;  you just have to step out into the madness.  It requires inner fortitude, to start walking and continue at a consistent pace.

The motos will go around you, but you cannot lose your nerve and stop; the consequence would be that they would probably hit you.  The driver is judging where you will be as long as you continue to move and they are planning to go around.

In the beginning it just about terrified me, but now I step out and walk with confidence and faith that those driving will not hit me but allow me to pass.  Sometimes that means I probably undertake unnecessary risks.

By now you are probably wondering where I am going with all this talk about traffic and crossing streets.  Here it is.  I see a parallel between crossing the street and the way we approach our faith.  If we look both ways and wait until it is safe, we are not challenged, and although it might take some waiting we will get across the street eventually.

The other way, takes a step of faith that those around you are participating in the process and allowing you to move forward even if the circumstances seem congested or a bit scary.  You have to learn to read the patterns and have a high degree of trust in those who are on the path with you.  This is accomplished through stepping out and using confidently moving forward.

My faith is stretched when it is used, not usually while I wait for safety.  I am not advocating that you run with abandon, but that our faith journey requires forward movement, with adjustments along the way to get us to the other side.  Life is never simple nor is the plan usually a straight line.  However the old saying goes, it is easier to steer a moving ship.

Have you ever given crossing the street much thought?