Albanian roads are full of surprises. Drivers need to be ready for anything, including road surfaces that change radically without warning.

Just last week, we were traveling along a new splendidly smooth stretch of road with Graham and Pauline Allcock, enjoying the vast improvement that shaved an hour off of our journey. Suddenly, the pavement ended, and the roadway dropped about 15 inches to a gravel surface. Thankfully, it was daytime, and we were able to see the drop-off in time to slow down. Roads here not only vary, they sometimes disappear altogether. It’s not unusual on a mountainside road to suddenly arrive at a point where a large section of the road has given way and fallen hundreds of feet into the valley below!

The vehicles on Albanian roads are also interesting. About four out of five cars are Mercedes, but they share the road with a great variety of motorized vehicles, farm animals, bicycles and pedestrians. In town, we have seen some very resourceful people driving along in amazing homemade creations, such as a wheelchair powered by a motorcycle engine. Donkey carts and flocks of sheep or goats are everyday road hazards. We have barely avoided many collisions, including a very close call with a man driving a darkened donkey cart on an unlit highway at night.

The roads here illustrate spiritual realities in the lives of many Albanians. There are many unavoidable difficulties and hazards to deal with if they are to move forward. Just as few people our age here have learned to drive because of the ban on privately owned vehicles during the dictatorship, the previous ban on religious observance means that few have learned about God and even fewer have learned about Jesus. Deep misunderstandings and superstitions hold many in bondage.

Albanian roadmaps are hard to find, so GPS devices are useless for road travel, too. Until last year, we lived in a city where the streets had no names. We still don’t have house numbers or street addresses. Bibles are even more difficult to find than roadmaps. None of the bookstores or shops in our region have them. The chaotic, lawless traffic is a fitting illustration of the spiritual confusion that exists here. With so many barriers against the Gospel, what can we accomplish? Why has God called us here? What is the responsibility of each believer during this perplexing time before Jesus returns?

“. . . the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. . . . As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: ‘A voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation”’” (Luke 3:2-6).

No matter where we find ourselves, each disciple of Christ has been immeasurably honored with a commission from the King of kings! Nothing in our busy lives can be more important than that! May nothing distract any of us from our duty to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.

• Twitter