Follow the Red Brick Road

You know what I love about Boston? Everything. Now, granted I was only there for four days and I was there with a tourist mindset that makes everything more glorious than it really is. I loved the history of the city, the architecture, the elaborate/beautiful churches on every corner, the free Boston Cream pie everyday, the harbor and boats, the really cheap fruit markets on corners, and the ease of the transit system. But what I loved most about Boston was simple….the red line. The red line? Yes, the red line. No I’m not referring to the train system, but rather to the red line of the Freedom Trail. Over 8 miles of the city is covered in either a red painted line or a line of red bricks. Follow this line and you will see every major site on the Freedom Trail. You see, every morning, I would take one step out of my hotel doors and I would be standing right on the red line. And everyday all I had to do was just follow the line. It was as simple as that….follow the red line. No maps needed, no tour guide needed to direct you which way. It was almost like that Fidelity commercial where the guy just follows the green carpet on where to go.

As I traveled around, I began to think about the red line. I wish my life had a red line to always follow. A path that requires no thinking, just following. Wouldn’t that be great.? You just wake up, get on the path, follow it, see the main attraction, turn around and follow the line straight back. It would cause clarity, it would provide direction. In many ways, I wished this line was apart of my everyday life.

But as the days went on, my mind set began to change. Every day, I’d get on the trail, only to realize that I’ve already seen the same things. Yes, staying on the path allowed me to get from A to B without any problems, but the more I took that path the more I thought, “Where is the adventure in this?”. One of my favorite quotes in life (and partially the motivation for taking the trip) is “Life is not a problem to be solved, but an adventure to be lived.” Staying on the path lacked adventure.

I think God taught me in a tangible way the benefits of taking the directed path at times and the problems with staying on the same path too long. My first lesson, came when I was on the Freedom Trail following the red line and was told by the concierge to visit this St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As I neared the location, I realized that it was about 2 blocks out from the Freedom Trail. I thought about not veering from the Trail and just staying on the Trail so that I would be sure to see all the main highlights. But in a last minute decision I walked the two blocks off the Freedom Trail. I deviated from the trail, but found in doing so I was able to experience the beauty of one of the most breathe taking cathedrals. Upon entering the cathedrals I was consumed by the sounds of a youth choir singing Christian songs and patriotic songs. I sat in the back of the cathedral and was emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed by the sound of the choir. Had I not deviated from the same path, I would not have had the experience that I did.

Yet, sometimes staying on the normal path can also have distractions. Take for example the one day that I was going to go down to the Harbor front to get on a whale watching tour. I left the hotel with plenty of time to get down there. While following the Red Freedom Trail line, I came across H&M the clothing store. Knowing that I had plenty of time to get to the Harbor front, I headed into H&M. Soon I returned to the path and made my way to the Harbor. When I got in line to buy my whale watching ticket the lady at the counter informed me that they had just sold the last ticket about 10 min. ago. Sure I had made it in plenty of time to get on the boat, but I failed to think about getting the ticket ahead of time. Shopping had distracted me (that and the fact that Boston has no tax on clothes which made it that much more appealing) . Had I not gone in, I would have been on a spectacular whale watching tour. Isn’t life like that. You get side tracked from the mission God has for you and then you miss what could have been. In such a tangible way, I was reminded the best path in life is the straight and narrow. When you become distracted by materialism or things of this world it often comes with disappointment.
God doesn’t just give us one road. He gives us choices in life that all have different paths. Sometimes when we veer from the path, we become distracted and miss something that could have been greater. Other times when we veer from the path, we see greater things than we could have if we stayed on the same path.

I’ve learned a lot of things about myself on this trip. One of the reasons why I love to travel. If there was any lesson to be learned on this trip it was to keep your eyes focused straight ahead towards the goal letting nothing distract you from your mission. But realizing that not all roads are straight and when it comes time to turn or go in a new direction....take the risk, you may end up seeing something you never expected.