Monday was a crazy day... between the class work, sending out a newsletter, and meetings for ministry, it was pretty tiring. After lunch that day, I went to the library for a quiet place to read before two back to back meetings I would be having starting an hour later. After I had finished reading and was leaving to go to the first meeting, a random stranger who was walking down the street approached me. He was lost. He knew he was looking for a park in the area near West Oak, but was a good bit off course. I briefly tried to explain how to get there, but wasn't sure what was the quickest way on foot because I always drive there and I never go directly from the library to the park. Once I gave him directions, and hoping that despite my terrible directions he would find it, I got in my truck and started on my way. As I put it into drive, I got an idea… the park really wasn't that far out of the way from where I was heading, so why not offer him a ride? I pulled up beside him and asked if he'd like a ride. He said he would and hopped in. Once we got to the park, he got out in a hurry and by the time I asked his name and told him mine, he was off. I went to my meeting feeling kind of bad about the missed opportunity I had just had to talk to him about Christ, so I prayed for him hoping maybe we would cross paths again.
Later in the day after my meeting, I headed home. When I pulled into my parking spot at my apartment I noticed someone else pulling in right next to me. It was a woman in an SUV and she got out and started walking towards me. As she approached, she said something along the lines of "I am hopelessly lost, could you tell me how to get back to Raleigh?" Finding it odd that she had somehow got lost in my neighborhood, I started to explain where we were and how to get back to Capitol Blvd, which would take her back to Raleigh. Once I started explaining it, I saw that she really was hopelessly lost, with absolutely no idea how she ended up where she was! She didn't know any of the landmarks I referenced, so I slowed down and tried to explain it in more detail and finally gave up and got a piece of paper to draw her a map. After explaining the map, she thanked me and was on her way.
Once I got in my apartment, I started thinking… I don't even remember the last time someone asked me for directions, but this time I got asked twice in one day! Lately I have been praying for God to give me more opportunities to share his love with people... could it be that God brought these people into my life for a purpose? I then started to realize that God was teaching me something. There are people all around me daily that are lost and don't know where they are going. By this, I am not just talking about being lost geographically, I am talking about being lost spiritually. In other words, there are people all around who need to hear about Jesus and how he died on the cross for their sins, but many of them do not even know they are lost because no one has ever told them. When talking to the lady who came to my apartment, one of the landmarks I referenced was Southeastern. When she asked what it was, I told her it was a Bible college, and she said she wouldn't be very interested in that sort of thing and had never heard of it. Looking back at it now, when she said she was "hopelessly lost," she meant geographically, but it was quite likely that she was also lost spiritually. This really convicted me… am I willing to help give directions to Raleigh and to the park, but not willing to give directions to the way of eternal life and forgiveness of sin? Its hard for me to go up to random strangers and initiate conversations about the gospel (It's hard for me to go up to random strangers and initiate about anything!) but here were two times that God in his grace brought people to me and I missed it… I just wanted to share this lesson that God is teaching me, and I hope that it will remind you as it has me that there are people all around us who are lost and looking for the right path. The question is, will we show them the way?