Do you ever get lost? Many of us do, and some of us even have nightmares about it. There’s the dream where you’re driving to Daytona Beach and all of a sudden you find yourself on a circular banked road with cars passing you, going what seems to be 200 miles an hour, and all the while there are a hundred thousand people cheering like they’re in the colliseum rooting for the gladiators against the Christians. Scary. In real life I rarely get lost, but I do admit to some unplanned exploring.

 Mike Cross is one of my favorite bluegrass/folk singers, and his song “Directions” supports my position. In the song, a driver asks an old man how to find an address, and the old man gives a set of directions (they’re given in a clever rhythmic, rhyming chorus repeated multiple times), which are more complicated than those for putting together a child’s toy at Christmas! The driver repeats them back, follows them in every minute detail, and finds himself back where he started with the old man still standing on the street. When he asks the old man what went wrong, he is told, “Well, where you want to go is across the street!” 

  We can get lost in our spiritual life as well. Sometimes we let the trials and demands of everyday life get us going around in circles until we feel like we’re on the Daytona Speedway, or we find ourselves going the wrong way and refuse to turn around. Other times we lose our way and refuse to ask for directions or, if we do seek help, we turn to dubious worldly sources we find standing along the road. Where should we go for spiritual direction?

 Fortunately, the answer has been given to us. In response to Thomas’s question, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus responds “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:5-6) Hence there is only one answer to our question, “How can we find our spiritual way?” – accept God’s grace and follow Him.

This view of Jesus must have been widely held, for the early Christians were known as “Followers of the Way” (e.g. Acts 9:2); they weren’t known as Christians until Barnabas and Saul served the church at Antioch (Acts 11:26). Even today we should welcome being called “Followers of the Way.” Read John 15:1-17 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

Written in July 2016