“Barricade The Road That Goes Nowhere"

Last night I noticed the side by side signs for Alabama Highway 119, one for South, our current path home, and the other for North which I would take if I wanted to skip home and go to Pelham, Oak Mountain, Hoover, and Leeds. Not wanting to go to those places I just simply wanted to go home. This meant I would be turning onto State Hwy 119 South towards Montevallo. As we entered the left turn lane ( btw: a left turn represents the spirit rather than the natural ) on State Hwy 31 in Alabaster seeing the signs it was like seeing them for the first time. I immediately thought of Psalm 119 and then almost said out loud; “Wow, that is a really long chapter of scripture!”


But the next thought was asking myself an important question: “How many time have I been this route but never paid any attention to those two sings … side by side … double Hwy 119 side by side … HELLO!” When Jesus says anything twice … PAY ATTENTION!” So I knew what I would be doing when I got home … reading Psalm 119!

At this point it might be beneficial to tell how long my wife of nearly 41 years and I have lived in Alabaster, Alabama. I am not certain if more for me or the reader … if for me … a helpful reminder; if for the reader … a helpful point of reference establishing history of the Humphreys’ journey to “South Central” Alabama circa 1995. In the spring of 1995 the Humphreys found themselves in a rather major transition … again … as with most when a relocation is involved. Actually our reasons were not quite that simple more like obscure at the time but rooted in events seven years earlier.

So set back, get comfortable, you may want a cup of Joe and tissues … just saying.

We were in another time of transition … the year … August 1989. I did not know it then but the events of that entire year, 1989, would leave me scarred and struggling for decades. The only thing … I sincerely mean this … the ONLY thing that I would be able to draw any strength and inner peace from for the next decade or so would be a dream given me on the eve of the total collapse of all the Humphreys had known.
The dream was God’s merciful way of warning, instructing, preparing, and later encouraging his servant as a kernel of hope. One seed. The three year effort plant an Assembly of God home missions church was a failure, at least in my eyes. Personally ruined financially, riddle with self doubt, without a ministry, no open windows or doors in Alabama or the six other states I contacted in a desperate self initiated (not the Holy Spirit) effort to make something happen!

At 39 years old … a wife … two teenage daughters … no job, no home, no savings, no plan, just an ache in my body, mind, and spirit! Life was screaming!! …Heaven was silent!!!… nothing but the dream. The dream that made it clear it was time to leave! However, the road to take out of there was NOT the option I wanted! It was the ONLY option I had. I called my parents … with family in tow we moved in with my parents who were renting a two bedroom bungalow style home in East Birmingham, Alabama. Not a real high point of my or Denise’s life. Neither was it for my parents. Thus began a seven year journey on a road not of my choosing. That journey ended with the arrival of yet another transition. This time the road I thought I chose. That is where this article picks up and I have this thought I only had the illusion of choosing the road for this journey.

Continuing I pick back up with my original thoughts. In that I have seen those very road signs yet not seen those road signs for how long now? … 15 years! … To in a moment, a blink, to have my eyes open so I can see them for the first time. My thoughts upon seeing the signs: “Denise and I now live in a subdivision right off Hwy 119 South ( Ps 119) so I think I need to read Ps 119 … I mean really read it” … and what I saw there … see there … is amazing!

So I believe I am suppose to write or blogg for as long as I am getting revelation from Psalm 119. This will mostly be personal, that is the general purpose of a blogg I think. No strict schedule for it may be daily or gaps of days between entries… but I will reveal what I find and hopefully it will be interesting maybe even insighful to those brave souls wishing to follow along. I will be using “The Message” version of the scriptures cause I really like to read the scriptures from that translation. I may have lost someone who might have otherwise followed me if I’d use the KJV, of the NKJV, or the ASV, or the NIV …. my choice but if it helps let me suggest you read the blogg and then see if you can find the same reference in your favorite version of scripture I just bet the Holy Spirit will speak to you from there too and see ... we all benefit … “) … unity in love approaching the fullness of Christ Jesus … got to love it!

Hope you will decide to check back and see what treasure was found on the journey of Ps 119.