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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
Finding Your Way Home
October 18, 2007
A GPS device was unheard of a generation ago but now more and more
people are purchasing them and using them in their cars. A few years ago
I was lucky enough to have the loan of a friend's Jaguar for a week. It
was a fancy car and it came complete with a GPS device installed. My
daughter and I used it and had fun with it. We programed it to lead us to
Shop Rite, the Crystal Mall and her dance studio. We tried to fool it by
turning left when it told us to turn right. It automatically reconstructed the
directions and told us how to get back on course. I thought to myself that
we could all benefit by having something like that watching over us and
keeping us on course.
Over the years I have often thought about purchasing one myself. I know
it would be helpful with all the driving I do. I have hesitated because I have
heard a number of stories about the shortcomings of the system. I know
one family that traveled from here to Washington D.C. with one and it
ended up taking them almost twice as long as they planned. Afterwards
they found out they had it set to avoid highways. Another person I know
told me how their unit had them crossing back and forth over a state road
when it would have been much quicker to just go straight down the road.
They never did figure that one out.
A friend of mine, who is good with gadgets, told me that 99% of the time
there is a mistake it is simply because of an operator error. In other words
mistakes happen because we don't know what we are doing. Well, this
week I heard a story that really hit home. My friend, Cheryl, mentioned
that a few years ago her husband bought her a GPS unit. She was always
getting lost. It was the perfect gift for her and it really worked well. It
saved her on more than one occasion. She said she couldn't live without it,
until one day it began to malfunction. She programmed in her destination
and set off only to realize that her GPS system wasn't leading her where
she wanted to go.
For the sake of curiosity she followed the directions on the GPS and it led
her straight to the church. She laughed at this and thought she must have
done something wrong. Funny thing is that over the next few weeks she
continued to be led right back to church every time she got lost. She told
me that God must have known where she needed to be and He was just
trying to lead her home.
It got me thinking. I believe all of us were born with a built in GPS system
that tries to lead us back home to God. We go off and explore the world
and more often than we like to admit, we get lost and end up in places we
hadn't intended. Although we may not be as messed up as the boy in the
story about the prodigal son in the Bible, we all have a yearning to return to
a place where we will be accepted with unconditional love. Somewhere
deep within us we hear the voice of God saying come home.
In times of trial and difficulty, we do just that. We turn to God looking for
a light in the darkness and many of us make our way home. My question
is this: Why wait? Why not turn on our GPS and let it lead us home today?
Before supper we could find ourselves embraced in the arms of love. I can
tell you that you don't need a GPS to tell you there is no place home.
God bless. See you in church. Cal
October 18, 2007
A GPS device was unheard of a generation ago but now more and more
people are purchasing them and using them in their cars. A few years ago
I was lucky enough to have the loan of a friend's Jaguar for a week. It
was a fancy car and it came complete with a GPS device installed. My
daughter and I used it and had fun with it. We programed it to lead us to
Shop Rite, the Crystal Mall and her dance studio. We tried to fool it by
turning left when it told us to turn right. It automatically reconstructed the
directions and told us how to get back on course. I thought to myself that
we could all benefit by having something like that watching over us and
keeping us on course.
Over the years I have often thought about purchasing one myself. I know
it would be helpful with all the driving I do. I have hesitated because I have
heard a number of stories about the shortcomings of the system. I know
one family that traveled from here to Washington D.C. with one and it
ended up taking them almost twice as long as they planned. Afterwards
they found out they had it set to avoid highways. Another person I know
told me how their unit had them crossing back and forth over a state road
when it would have been much quicker to just go straight down the road.
They never did figure that one out.
A friend of mine, who is good with gadgets, told me that 99% of the time
there is a mistake it is simply because of an operator error. In other words
mistakes happen because we don't know what we are doing. Well, this
week I heard a story that really hit home. My friend, Cheryl, mentioned
that a few years ago her husband bought her a GPS unit. She was always
getting lost. It was the perfect gift for her and it really worked well. It
saved her on more than one occasion. She said she couldn't live without it,
until one day it began to malfunction. She programmed in her destination
and set off only to realize that her GPS system wasn't leading her where
she wanted to go.
For the sake of curiosity she followed the directions on the GPS and it led
her straight to the church. She laughed at this and thought she must have
done something wrong. Funny thing is that over the next few weeks she
continued to be led right back to church every time she got lost. She told
me that God must have known where she needed to be and He was just
trying to lead her home.
It got me thinking. I believe all of us were born with a built in GPS system
that tries to lead us back home to God. We go off and explore the world
and more often than we like to admit, we get lost and end up in places we
hadn't intended. Although we may not be as messed up as the boy in the
story about the prodigal son in the Bible, we all have a yearning to return to
a place where we will be accepted with unconditional love. Somewhere
deep within us we hear the voice of God saying come home.
In times of trial and difficulty, we do just that. We turn to God looking for
a light in the darkness and many of us make our way home. My question
is this: Why wait? Why not turn on our GPS and let it lead us home today?
Before supper we could find ourselves embraced in the arms of love. I can
tell you that you don't need a GPS to tell you there is no place home.
God bless. See you in church. Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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