SENSE OF DIRECTION

Sometimes a song really speaks to me . This was the case yesterday as I was driving my son to school. The song was “Broken” by the contemporary Christian group Lighthouse. The last line of the last verse struck a chord in my heart: “I may have lost my way now…haven’t forgotten my way home.”

The prodigal son in Luke 15 is a guy that so many of us can relate to. He wanted it his way…right now. He never calculated the cost of his desires. The father allowed him to prematurely receive his inheritance, so the prodigal took all of that unearned blessing and hit the road – ready to “live large”. The son quickly squandered every dime of his inheritance. And wouldn’t you know it, a famine hit the land just about the same time that he ran out of money. He was forced to go to work for a stranger in a strange land. Slopping hogs was probably not at all how he envisioned this thing playing out back at Dad’s house when he demanded his portion. (sometimes we really do get what is coming to us.)

However, in verse 17, the story takes a turn toward a happy ending: “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” He had absolutely lost his way, but fortunately he hadn’t forgotten the way home. And in the following verses, the son returns home and with open arms and is received and restored by his father.

The Prodigal had lost everything except his sense of direction. In the middle of a rebellious season, at the lowest possible point, he came to himself. An internal GPS helped lead him back to the Father’s house. Trusting that no matter how badly he had blown it, there was mercy for him there.

Simon Peter didn’t know what to do either after his great failure, so he just used his sense of direction and went back to the place where Jesus first called him as a fisherman. He had lost his way, but he hadn’t forgotten the way home.

You or someone you know may be in the same self-induced situation that the Prodigal and Peter found themselves in. Perhaps the choices and decisions you have made have lead you to a place where you never imagined your life being. Like the Prodigal, maybe you think you have lost everything. But, there is one thing you haven’t lost; that is your sense of direction. Jesus said HIs sheep hear His voice and follow Him. I encourage you today to use your sense of direction and go back to the Father’s house. You may have lost your way, but I am guessing you haven’t forgotten your way home. Find an altar and submit yourself to God’s tender mercy again. He is ready to run to you, to receive you, and to restore your broken life!

God Bless You,
Pastor Cranor

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