If Possible …
I suspect that I’m not alone in having made so many wrong turns in my life, that my original destination and objectives have been forgotten and replaced. It would have been nice if I’d always had my spiritual GPS turned on, which would have persistently repeated, until I eventually complied, “If possible … make a U-Turn“. Instead I turned it off. That’s how many of us work. My career path wasn’t one where you’d likely hear many people complaining, “how did I end up here, doing this”? The paths of our lives are never quite what we expect. When I hear someone declare, “I wouldn’t change a single thing about my life”, I have one of two spontaneous reactions, either suspicion or awe. The feeling of awe, well that’s simply a first reaction to having finally come face to face with another Jesus. The only two reasons that I can imagine not desiring to change anything would be if through divine wisdom, we’d learned the necessary value from and never repeated a single one our mistakes or the second relates to the belief that we have and always will react perfectly to every mistake made. I’ve never met either of those two people.
The self anointed hopeless among us should take-away from this, exactly what we’ve lost, hope. We are no worse than anyone else, we’re just more aware of our mistakes and short comings. God (the only perfect one) does lead those who are intimately tuned-in to His spirit, but should any of us become distracted for too long, we’ll still end up on a dead end with little space to make that necessary U-Turn. “The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” (Exodus 13:22 ESV). God has repeatedly held out the lantern for His people. The choice to follow or ignore is ours. If we are not His people it’s entirely of our own doing or undoing. If we are not following the lantern’s every swing, then we’ve chosen turns which are not in God’s prescribed route. It may still be an interesting journey, but without warning signs, beware of the many hazards. Here’s the hope for the hopeless; “And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples.” (Matthew 9:19 ESV). The Lord holds the lantern for everyone AND for those who believe in and seek Him out, He will also follow. That’s the glory of God, both leader and servant. He can connect with and pull us out of the deepest ravine, regardless of how far off His path we’ve fallen. But we usually have to ask for His help.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE (please share the link)
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