I Once Was Lost....

I have to tell this funny story. But the application is important. I was leaving Ladies' Care group last night --Thanks Jill, for hosting! Dark night, country roads, I'd only been there once before (and Keith had driven!). Tammy told me to make a left at the stop sign and I'd come out at the Ephrata Wal-Mart, where I could pick up 222. WELL...She went right at the stop sign, I turned left, and she honked her horn 5 or 6 times. "Oh that crazy Tammy!" I thought. "What a party animal! Who else honks their horn that many times this time of night!" Well I drove and drove (about 4-5 miles) with a Speed Racer on my tail, when finally the car behind me beeped again and stopped...right on this dark country road. I was nervous. I stopped, put the window down and heard Tammy's voice calling out in the dark, "Wrong Stop Sign!...you're gonna end up in Five Points going this way!" Whew! We cracked up and found a place to turn around, and Tammy led me back to the right path.

At the moment that Tammy had me pull over to tell me about my wrong turn, I immediately thought of what God calls us to do...to tell people the truth about where they're headed, and lovingly lead them to the path toward Safety. Ironically, we had just discussed this at Care Group that night...fear of man...why we aren't more bold with the gospel, especially to those we are close to (family, friends, neigbors). Whether we see someone who needs the gospel for salvation or for exhortation about sin or for restoration, we may shy away from presenting it. What if Tammy had just let me drive on...knowing I had no idea where I was going. I had no cell phone, it was late, dark....who knows how long it would have been before I would have found my way home. She might have thought "Oh, I don't want to have to go after her. I just want to get home and go to bed. She'll find her way home eventually." Tammy, I'm so glad you didn't just let me go! Friends, lets hear what God would say to us in this. He has come after us...pursuing us to bring us to salvation. We ourselves cannot save anyone, but we can tell them the way to go. We can lovingly pursue people, telling them the truth about life and death, and pointing them to the Savior. I, for one, was affected by my experience last night, and am grateful both for a God who pursues me and a friend who pursued me...to turn me to the right path.