Our GPS

I want to thank you all for allowing me to attend Polishing the Pulpit last week. As we were traveling, we were using our GPS. I know how to get to Sevierville, but it is a big help with traffic. It got me to thinking about God as our GPS. We have probably all heard thoughts about God being our GPS. He should be. This article is not about following God; it is about refusing to follow God.

It has been a month or so since I was driving to a destination near Nashville. I put the location in the GPS and began my journey. I asked Tara which route it had us taking. She told me, and we carried on our journey. A little ways in, my passenger asked about the route we were taking. I tried to explain to him the route when he wanted to know why we would go that way. I tried to explain that the GPS takes into account traffic, detours, wrecks, etc. He said he did not want to go that way, he knew a better way, to just listen to him. Before we condemn my passenger, I will have to admit that I have done the same thing. You might have also.

Is this how we treat God? God lays out where we need to go and how we need to go, and we think we know better. I feel more comfortable going this way. I have never been this way. I think this way is faster. That way goes through a rough part of town. So we decide to go our way, and sometimes in the here and now we feel like it worked out for us just fine to do it our way. That just adds to the delusion that we know best. At worst, we find ourselves in a mess begging the GPS to find us a way around. I have been in those situations, and yet I find myself trusting in myself still. I am not saying you should always trust your GPS, but I am saying you can always trust God (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Salt & Light

Tara, Noah, and I were playing pickleball the other day at the park in McKenzie. The weather was wonderful for the first weekend in August, especially after a hot July. We had played for a bit when another group showed up to play. I did not think a whole lot about it; I was pretty focused on trying to beat Noah. After a bit of time, a gentleman came over and asked us some questions about how to play. We tried to explain the rules to the best of our knowledge, but we are just learning ourselves. He thanked us for our time and introduced himself. He lives here in Huntingdon, and we said we did also. After he told us what he did, I volunteered that I was the preacher at the church of Christ. He said that someone in their group had said that. We finished playing pickleball and left. As far as I know, I did not know any of those people personally (maybe I did and just did not recognize them). Someone recognized me, and the recognition was about my Christianity. I commented to my family in the car that you never know who is watching. You always need to be a Christian if you claim to be one.

I hope the lesson for all of us is very plain. Are you acting like you follow Jesus wherever you go? What if I had acted a fool on the court? To my shame, I have done that in sports. What message would that have sent about Jesus? My girls work at restaurants here in town. What if I go in or call and I am mean, short, or unpleasant? What message does that send when the waitress sees me sitting across the church building on Sunday morning? The list of these questions could go on and on, but I hope you get the point. Jesus calls us to be salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-16). If the only thing someone knew about Jesus was seeing your life, what would they think about Jesus?

I Need Help

I wrote an article the other day about hitting a deer. I was about to type my second point when I realized I had run out of room. In case you do not remember the article, I want to remind you of what we talked about last time. We were discussing riding along the road of life when something brings you to a complete stop. What do you do? We talked about how we pick up the pieces and keep going. Perseverance and faithfulness are key to walking with Jesus. What I wanted to talk about last time when I ran out of room was those who stopped to help.

There were several who drove by. They had to see the deer. It was lying in the middle of the road. We were in our lane with the flashers on. There were pieces of our van lying on the road that people were driving through. Most people kept driving. They might have been late and needed to get somewhere. Maybe it was an older person who did not think they could help. Probably there were some who did not care but just kept on going. We are all going to have accidents in our lives, and we need support from others. I really appreciated the young couple that stopped. They checked on us, called the accident in, and helped us clean up the mess. The young lady said she had hit deer before. She understood, she stopped, she helped. As Christians, we need to look after our brothers and sisters (Hebrews 3:13). We need to try to reach out to those of the world who have accidents (Matthew 22:39). Why? To show them Jesus and because that is what Jesus would do and we claim to be Jesus people. The reality is that out of all the cars that passed by, only one stopped to help. In your time of distress, you might feel that everyone is passing by, but Jesus is there to help (2 Timothy 4:16-17). You are not alone. Turn to Him.