We were driving back over the mountains to Taormina on Sicily. In a hurry actually. We were to return the rental car. Suddenly signs are telling us that the road is closed ahead. «Earthquake» they said. I didn’t really believe them. The road wasn’t blocked. We kept going. Didn’t have the time to go back down  and around the mountains. After a while big rifts appeared in the road, not deep though, so I still found it possible to drive. But I was disturbed. Was it safe?

We met a couple of motorbikes and stopped to ask them whether it was safe to continue. «Yes. It is OK. Just drive carefully.» So we did and to be honest it wasn’t too bad.

Why did I first ignore the signs? After a few weeks travelling in the south of Italy, we had kind of adapted. We were getting a grip of the language. People didn’t speak much English. And we got used to the traffic. I read the signs to be more guiding and not strict regulations. They were not always pointing in the right direction. Not always updated either.

I have thought of this situation many times since then. I learned something from it. There are situations where I would ignore the signs and it will be completely OK. But for sure there are signs I shouldn’t ignore.

And I have connected this to what Jesus told the poeple that asked for signs;
He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

There are signs.