I wake in a rest stop.  With stuttering bones I sit in the driver’s seat.  The promise of sunrise already lights my place.  And my eyes drink what is placed before me.

Shadows of colorless shapes fill my eyes.  But a shadow of blazing intensity fills my soul.  The first will pass to history as the brilliant Sun rises to my left.  The second demands my full attention, for it is God who will be first.

The shadows are there; statues of men lay between the rising Son and my eyes.  The choice is brilliantly clear.  “To prayer with me!  These things of men put God last.  But I must put Him first.”

A love for He is from eternity clears the fog from my mind.  His Holiness appears as a jarring jolt.  And the folly of men recedes.

What love has man for this place of prayer?  He testifies to himself by the statues he has placed in this rest stop, and absence of praise for God who has given him hands.

Along the highway, to arrive at this place, I saw no sign of thanks to God.  I saw only small crosses to glorify the death of a man.  A rich crop of signs has grown up to direct the body.  But where are the signs for God?

There should have been a sign that said, “Praise be to God in His mercy!  We give thanks to you, O’ Holy One, for allowing us to build this highway.”  But there will be no such sign to find.

Man restrains his praise for God, yet elevates himself.  I too am man, and so I confess.  But confession is only the beginning.  Where is the choice within me to elevate God to first?  It must be found, and quickly!  Or prayer will be but words.

Open my eyes O’ Holy One.  Have mercy on this fool!  I see with clarity how all men have treated you as trash; how they relegate you as last.  But you have made me stand in a place where such lies blatantly reek of the pride of man.  If you are not first then I am last forever.

You are of eternity, and your Glory has always been so.  A countless host will proclaim in your favor.  They will turn their face from any man who promotes himself.  So they take their stance.  They have been proven and so they will remain.  Yet man considers that he would be acceptable among their ranks.

The great cloud of witnesses sing, “Holy praise to the Sovereign God.  And to his Holy Son!  For salvation belongs to God alone and to the Lamb.”

This song is to be sung forever.  And the great cloud of witnesses readily agreeds.  All the while man promotes himself.  And refuses a place for His Holy Name in this place of testing. 

What, indeed, is to be the outcome of the pride of men?  It is not what they expect.  For God’s judgment has stood, it will stand, and it will remain forever;  God is first!

Amen, amen, amen!