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Sometimes We Are Lost and Don't Even Know It |
2007-06-26 |
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We were in the Twin Cities for a conference introducing a new hymnal
recently. My husband was asked to introduce one of the keynote
speakers for the event and I was asked to oversee the reporting of the event, it's workshops and speakers. We were staying about 20 minutes from the church where the conference was held, so made sure we knew what we were up against with rush hour traffic. Even though we thought the commute would be about 40 minutes in heavy traffic, we left more than an hour early to make sure we would be on time for Craig to introduce the first speaker at 9AM. Traffic was, indeed, heavy; but not so much as to foil our well-thought-out plan. Heavy enough, however, to make it confusing to find the right freeway. We started out by turning on a frontage road.
No problem---we would drive on the frontage road until the next on
ramp. Great. The next on ramp was marked so we took the road we
thought would get us to the major freeway on which we needed to be. Due to our lack of daily experience with rush hour traffic and split
second decision making with no turning back, we were not on the highway we THOUGHT we were on. It seemed to be taking us longer than we expected to reach our exit. We suddenly realized we were in the wrong place when the roadside sign told us we were in Eden Prairie, on the wrong side of town from where we wanted to be. We were on the wrong highway, going in the wrong direction and didn't even know it. Yipes! No worries, we had a map and after living in the Twin Cities
for a short period in my early years, I could find a solution anyway. Without getting lost any further, and having left in plenty of time, we were barely on time to the Conference, screetching in right at 9AM. The conference, however was AHEAD of schedule. The speaker Craig was supposed to introduce had already begun her presentation. We had arrived too late. Life is often like that. Things throw us off. Challenges we face are not always ones we deal with day to day, and we often fail. Under pressure and stress, we make split second decisions that have difficult consequences.And here's the biggie: we can be lost and NOT EVEN KNOW IT. We can go a long way "south" before we realize that we have gone astray. When we get that lost we can not rely on ourselves for what we need. We need more that what we have....like a map; a cool head; a tremendous amount of patience with the situation (and with our spouse---I was driving); help navigating our way, and more than a little prayer.
When we realize our predicament we can find ourselves unwilling to ask or take direction. Fear can grip us and make our travel nearly
impossible. We can get so angry that we don't listen to reason or we storm off faster and without thinking that we can get lost even more. We can make a big mess of things.
We are not alone and not without someone to help us. Life is always
full of challenges and difficulties. Some our fault, some having
nothing to do with what we have or have not done. "Softly and
Tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me." Jesus calls us to continually turn to him, recognize that on our own we are hopelessly lost, and to trust and obey him everyday. Jesus calls us to recognize our sin and our needs for his forgiveness, guidance and grace. Recognizing our inabilities, we can see that it is not by our own knowledge of skill that we find our way; but God's power and love for us that brings us safely to all our destinations.
Feeling lost these days? Hang in there by continuing to turn to God
in Jesus Christ, giving him your full attention so that you can get reach your destination. May your travels be blessed by the One who calls us to paths that on our own we can not see the end, trusting in his mercy and guidance all the way.
Oh yeah, this One always forgives even our worse decisions and actions and offers us new life through repentence, a new start on our journey each day!
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Summer: starting Memorial Day Weekend
9:00 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
10:00 am Coffee and Fellowship
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm
Winter: starting after Labor Day
8:30 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
9:35 am Educational Hour
9:35 am Coffee and Fellowship
10:45 am Worship Service
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm |
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401 South Flynn Drive
Milbank SD 57252
605.432.5566 |
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