Fellowship United Methodist Church

Getting lost

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 (NIV)           Recently, I needed to attend a meeting some distance from where I live, and it had been a long time since I had been to this location.  I thought that I knew the way, but just in case I turned on my GPS to help if I didn’t remember correctly.  Things started out well, but after I had gotten about 12 miles into the drive; my GPS went out…the fuse that powered the GPS had blown and it had  been running on its own battery power.  I still felt somewhat confident that I would remember the way correctly.  I didn’t quite remember the names of the roads onto which I was to travel, but hopefully a name would look familiar or at least see familiar landmark where I needed to turn.  Well, you guessed it…I got lost.  I made a wrong turn.  What would I do?  Drive around and hope that I would eventually arrive at my destination?  No, I panicked…that’s how I react to being lost.  Called my husband and asked for help, and he guided me to the location to which I was going. If my power source had been operable, I wouldn’t have run out of power, and my navigation system would not have failed me.  Then, I would have gotten to my destination without a problem.            As I think about what happened, I can see some similarities in our spiritual life.  We have a power source which is God, but do we maintain and make use of this power? We go merrily along our way confident that we know where we are going.  We trust our own abilities to get us through life.  Then something happens which disrupts our plans…maybe we have made a wrong turn somewhere along the way. Suddenly we remember God and turn to God…maybe even in panic. It seems that in the good times we fail to acknowledge God and God’s presence in our lives.  We don’t pray as often as we should, we don’t read and study the scriptures as we should, and maybe our worship attendance is not as frequent as it ought to be.        What about you on this Monday morning, the start of a new week?  Do you make constant use of your power source, or do you trust in your own abilities?  Is your prayer life what it should to be, and are you studying God’s word daily?  As we continue toward the cross, now is a good time to examine and reevaluate our commitment to the spiritual disciplines of prayer, study of scripture, and worship attendance.   Don’t wait until you find yourself lost and panicking to rely on your power source…keep it operational and use it each day. Prayer:  Gracious and loving God, thank you for always being near and taking care of me, even though I may not always acknowledge your presence.  Help me find time each day to spend with you.  Amen