A few years ago, I boarded a plane to the Orient. A friend had invited me to speak about sand, stone, and clay in one of the most unexpected places. Fourteen hours later, I stepped off the plane into the humidity of the Philippines. Over the next seven days, I shared my journey on Restoration Road-from the times when I watched the teacher share a Bible story on the green felt board, to my prayer in County Line’s chapel; from the rise, fall, and rise again of my auctioneering life, to the years when God restored me into a man who lived with a heart of clay.
I traveled with my friend through a gate, down a road, and to the destination of a city dump just outside Metro Manila where more than 14,000 families live in extreme poverty. It was difficult for me to comprehend the images that my eyes were burning on my heart as we met the children and their parents who literally lived hand-to-mouth, day-to-day. I had the opportunity to share what God had taught me as I journeyed from sand and stone to clay. I encountered even more stories of those who were traveling their own unique journeys on Restoration Road as they were being restored to authenticity.
From that experience, I was reminded that God had taken me from pursuing the rich for my benefit to pursuing the poor for theirs. I learned that both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum are in need of the Restoration Road: rich and poor, whether licentious or legalistic, whether sand or stone.
Restoration Road is a journey that we travel our entire lives. Our steps include continual choices, thoughts, prayers, and feelings about to whom or what we will surrender the four chambers of our hearts, our four primary desires, and our three resources of life. We will frequently approach speed bumps of sand or stone on our journeys fully surrendered to and fully aligned with the Restorer.
Every encounter with another human being will offer yet another opportunity to reflect the design of the Designer, our Restorer. Solomon wrote: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Give God all your heart, and He will lead you straight down Restoration Road.
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