Emphasis Preaching Journal

Have you ever traveled on the West Virginia turnpike? Veterans of travel years ago share horror stories about trying to get through the treacherous terrain of this "almost heavenly" state -- steep grades, sharp curves, slow-moving trucks, overheated brakes. But a journey on the West Virginia turnpike today is a different story -- four lanes and the possibility of zipping through the state at a posted speed limit, slowing only a few times to throw some quarters in the toll baskets. The mountains have been made low, the valleys filled, the crooked roads made straight and the rough ways made smooth. If you want to picture the land on which John the Baptist walked, just imagine West Virginia without trees. -- Lintern