In John 14, Jesus sounds exclusive: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” It is a difficult text for many people. Maybe you. I could skip it, but I want to explore around it a bit.

To start, a story.

I was taking pictures of a crowd in a store. I wanted to get a better shot. There was a ladder. I asked a person from the store, “Who could I talk to about standing on that ladder?”

She smiled. “That would be me,” she said.

She led me to the ladder. I climbed up. She moved away to where she could see the crowd more clearly herself.

I was panning across the crowd when I noticed someone waving at me. It was a younger woman in a store shirt. “I have to ask you to come down.” I kept shooting but pointed at the woman who had given me permission who was out of view of the staffer.

The younger woman went to a guy who was doing crowd control. He motioned that I needed to get down. I pointed at the woman and kept shooting.

The younger woman headed for the front of the store, where store security was. The guy wandered over to the woman who had given me permission. I could see him say, “did you?” and her say “yes.”

I kept shooting.

Security came to the foot of the ladder: “You have to come down.”

The woman who had given me permission came to him and said, “It’s okay. I said he could.”

“Just checking,” said Security.

It was difficult for me to keep shooting.  I don’t defy authority. But I asked for permission from the person who could give it. The right relationship let me say, “talk to her” and see clearly.