Good Day Friends!
I have a poor sense of direction and I admit it! I get lost pretty easily and don’t quite have the hang of how best to use my phone, etc. This problem of being “directionally challenged” reared its ugly head when I went Saturday to perform a wedding. This particular city near me (Lafayette, Indiana) also has several state highways coming through town plus interstate I-65 and Purdue’s campus. Like a lot of larger cities the names change as you drive down the street and go from a “numbered” street like St. Rd 52 to a “named” street like Sagamore Pkwy. I just always get lost.
Saturday I had a wedding to perform in Lafayette at the American Legion. I looked it up on Google maps where it showed just one American Legion in town. I arrived and stepped into the entry and I quickly find out there are more than one American Legion posts! I am at the wrong one. It is now near 2 p.m. (wedding at 3 p.m.) which is when I told the bride I’d like to meet with the bridal party before the service! I head out with new set of directions and a growing panic. Then I relax a bit remembering they can’t get married until I get there!! I start out to look for River Rd. which, if you go south, is also St. Rd. 231, and/or stay north and it’s St. Rd 43.
I pull up at a gas station to get directions. Back in the day, the gas station attendants knew the area and could be a great source of directions. Not so today as the clerk inside the store had no idea. Outside I see a guy pull up and I ask him, and he has no idea where this second American Legion could be. So with growing fear and anxiety I pull aside and get my phone to call the bride. All of a sudden the same guy I had spoken with comes to my window. He is holding his cell and has looked up the directions for me! He gave me the directions from his phone and I got to where I needed to be in plenty of time. (Figuring out my phone and A & T navigation is for another time).
At the hospitals where I work I always ask people if they need help or directions. I’ve overheard people asking at gas stations and I offer to help. There is something kind of neat when we help someone get to where they want to go. I believe the same thing goes for us in the spiritual life. We lose our place sometimes and need to get redirected. If that describes you today simply ask God for directions and you will feel great peace. God knows the way, and walks with us along this great path of life. When we get lost, or fall off the path, God may even send a stranger to get you back on track! Ultimately, God has given us Jesus to direct our ways and to lead the way. I love the image of Jesus in front of us leading the way, beside us to encourage us, and behind us to catch us when we fall. Jesus himself, when trying to direct the lost disciples after Easter, says “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6).
IS GOD DIRECTING YOU TO COME TO ILLINOIS FOR THE NATIONAL GATHERING JULY 23-26? NEED DIRECTIONS? CHECK OUT WWW.VIADECRISTO.ORG AND GET DIRECTIONS TO COME AND BE WITH US!
Peace,
Pr. Doug
Pastor Doug Givan
Chaplain
St. Vincent Clay (Brazil)
St. Vincent Seton Specialty (Indianapolis)
dgivan@stvincent.org (email)
“I have seen what a laugh can do. It can transform almost unbearable tears into something hopeful.”
-Bob Hope
“May the Lord continually bless us with Heaven’s blessings as well as with human joys..” Ps. 128:5
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
