“He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3
In light of certain studies, some neuroscientists claim that people are apt to be either left-side or right-side dominant in their brain. As a result, this tendency may have significant impact on a person’s personality, preferences, and capabilities. While this concept is still subject to debate, we often felt like right-brain people operating in a left-brain world while living in Japan. As newcomers, we knew to expect differences in language and culture, but a steering wheel located on the right side of the car just felt wrong initially. This departure from our “normal” was to be expected because everyone drives on the left-hand side of the road in Japan. Therefore, as part of our eventual transition, we soon learned to shift gears with our left hand, remembered we were crossing traffic when making right hand turns and ceased activating our windshield wipers when attempting to a make a turn (they are opposite).
This mental transition from a right-side world to a left-side world took time, but we eventually mastered it. We did so to such a degree that now we may occasionally start out driving on the wrong side of the road in America under certain conditions, particularly if there is no oncoming traffic to help orientate our brains. Unfortunately, the juxtaposition of the windshield wiper and turn signal controls still proves to be a stumbling block at times if our thoughts drift to Japan while driving. We have also entertained more than a few people when we mistakenly attempted to enter the driver’s door when getting into their car as a passenger.
There are many theories that attempt to explain why one particular side of the road is preferred for traveling, but it is interesting to observe that even though roughly 90 percent of the general population is right-handed, fully one-third of the world routinely employs a left-hand traffic system. Specifically, 165 countries drive on the right and 75 countries drive on the left. A closer examination of the details reveals that a large percentage of the left side dominant countries were formerly part of the British Empire so that partially explains a left side orientation. However, this does not account for countries like Japan that were never under British influence. Historians can prove that the propensity to maintain a left side traffic flow in Japan goes back to at least the Edo Period (1603-1868) and the establishment of the Japanese railroad system in the late 1800s locked this pattern into place.
Every sovereign country is certainly entitled to legislate the flow of traffic within its own borders. In a similar manner, a sovereign God who created this world and all of its inhabitants, has ordained the paths and the manner in which we should walk as we live out our lives here on Earth. Since these rules of the road are eternal in nature and intended for our good, we would do well to know and diligently observe them. Time and time again, Scripture teaches us that God delights in guiding us along a determined path that will provide us blessing and safety from evil, both in this life and in the world to come.
As one travels the world, it is interesting to note the variety and disparity of rules that regulate the lives of the respective citizens in different countries. As citizens of a heavenly country, God has called us to walk along the right paths He has ordained for us as we seek to successfully navigate the roads of life before us. Each country has determined the correct side of the road on a national basis, but there is no uniformity in such matters on an international level. But in things of an eternal nature, we must carefully observe God’s rules of the road.
Ippo Ippo 