Psalm 119:176 – I am your servant, but I have wandered away like a lost sheep. Please come after me, because I have not forgotten your teachings. (CEV)
I did something this morning that was perhaps a bit foolish. I needed to drop Cade off at his school in Cherry Hill, so I had made sure I knew the route there. I dropped him off with no problem. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I decided to turn the other direction out of the lot and see if I could find my way back. Once a made it a little way, it occurred to me that I have not yet gotten a new phone, do not have GPS in the car, have not yet bought a map, and in fact have never looked at a map of the part of New Jersey that I was in. If I got lost, I had no safeguards in place. As I drove, I had to make a series of quick decisions of which way to turn.
It could have been a moment for panicking. But then I realized that I had more resources than I had initially thought. I do know the major roads in the area. Most likely I would cross one of them sooner or later. I also have a decent sense of direction. I could tell I was heading more or less north when I should be going east. That at least told me what direction I should be aiming to turn. Beyond all of that, I could always stop and ask for directions. I will admit that I fit all of the stereotypes of men who hate to ask for directions, but in the end it is better than wandering completely aimlessly. I was not going to become so hopelessly lost that I could never find my way back. Eventually I came across Lenola Road, and could find my way back to St. Matthew from there.
Life sometimes feels like my car ride this morning. Things come at you fast and you have to make quick decisions that might have a big impact. How do I decide? What happens if I make the wrong choice? Will I ever get to a safe place? It feels like we don’t have enough time or information to make wise choices. Yet we actually have more resources than we might initially think. Our friends and families can help, but so too the church community can help us orient ourselves. There is much wisdom to be found among the people of the congregation, when we can be vulnerable enough to admit that we don’t have everything together and we are not sure where we are headed. Maybe it’s a bit like asking for directions in that we’d rather avoid being vulnerable, but sometimes some outside perspective is exactly what we need.
Beyond all of this, of course, is God’s promise that we will never become hopelessly lost. God goes with us, in the routine routes of life but also when we wander off the direct paths into uncharted territory. Our quick decisions might be right or they may take us the wrong direction, but God is always there with us. God is persistent that way, and will never leave us alone. Thanks be to God!
Pastor Eric