There are three words that are absolutely true, and if you’ve lived long enough, you’ve already said both “amen” and “oh, me” to all of them. Those three words? Life is tough. No matter how many holes you plug in the dam of life, another one pops open. Maybe it’s when the rug is pulled out from under you, a dream dies, or you feel like you’ve hit a dead end with nowhere left to go. I remember a Peanuts comic strip where Lucy was philosophizing again, as she always did, to poor Charlie Brown. “On the cruise ship of life,” she declared, “some people face their deck chairs forward to see where they’re going, while others face them backward to see where they’ve been.” She turned to Charlie and asked which way his chairs were facing. He frowned and said, “I can’t even get mine unfolded.” That was exactly where two disciples found themselves as they traveled the road to Emmaus—hopes buried beneath a stone, dreams dead. And they had nowhere to turn. It was there, on the worst road of their lives, that they met the risen Lord.