Have We Lost Our Way?

The other day, I was driving and ran into stalled traffic. As I was on a relatively rural stretch of road, and was growing impatient and hungry, I found a nearby side road and assumed I could get around the traffic jam. Things were going good, until I saw a "No Outlet" sign, which I promptly ignored. The road kept going, so I didn't really give it much thought. Then it ended.

It was noon, so trying to judge which direction I was pointed was useless, and the only way to go, was back the way I came. For a moment, I felt lost. And still hungry.

If "Life is a Highway," then it stands to reason that sometimes we get a little lost. We take a shortcut, we want to sight-see a bit, we ignore the map (or for you modern-minded folks, turn off the GPS). Warning signs appear, which we ignore because there is not any indication that the sign is accurate. We drive on, maybe out of pride, until we can't go anymore. That is only if we're lucky. If we're not lucky, our shortcut through the brush leads us to be the first person to discover the Grand Canyon that no one knows about because we quickly fall to our death. Seriously, that thing comes out of nowhere.

You have a heart palpitation and you go to the doctor. Your car takes up smoking, you go to the mechanic. You notice something strange with your bank account, you call the bank. Signs warn us of these things, but what about on a more personal level. Do you notice you seem to be angrier, less in control of yourself, lying with more skill? What about relationships? Are there warning signs that maybe this relationship is not where it should be, or that certain people are not the best influences?

Do you find yourself less and less convicted over doing something wrong? These are the scary ones for me. Sometimes, I find myself inching closer and closer to the line of what I shouldn't be doing. All around, signs warn that there is "No Outlet," or that I'm reaching a point of no return. Yet because of pride or self control or impatience, I press on. It is as if I have crushed Jimeny Cricket under foot and pressed on. ( I find it interesting that the mascot for the conscience is an easily squished creature.) For the Christian, the Holy Spirit is ignored, and if ignored enough, we cease to even hear Him.

The truth is, when we take the shortcuts- be they to get around traffic, or earn money, or seek intimacy- we are saying we are too important to wait on what God is planning for us. See, had I waited about five more minutes, that traffic would have cleared up, as I found when I got back to where I started that day. But waiting on God is a lost art, that is, if we ever found it.

We-you me, the Church- have lost our way. We have taken the shortcuts of reading self-help books rather than seeking God's advice; of discipleship classes instead of actual, deep, hands on discipleship; of following another church's program instead of seeking our own vision for our church. We are called to wait upon God. It was what He asked of the disciples in Acts 1. He told them to stay in the city and wait for Him to send the Holy Spirit and then receive power. We cannot be 'microwave' followers of an 'oven' Christ.

Once we have lost our way, it may take time to find the path again. The place to begin is in learning to wait, and to wait with grace.