Guy spent his childhood summers traveling the United States in a Volkswagen Vanagon with his parents and younger brother. Four to eight weeks most summers, adventuring and creating memories. A few summers ago we took a 9-state, 5-National Parks, 15-day trip of our own. We loaded up our minivan with clothes and food, camping equipment and cots, and got outta Dodge with books on CD as our only on-board entertainment.
More than halfway through the trip, we camped at Farragut State Park outside Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. One late afternoon we hiked to the lake. Kids swam while Guy and I watched, pleased to see Swim Team so obviously paying dividends in Tween’s confidence. Tween eventually got out and wanted me to take him back to our campsite for food and warm clothes. His simple request produced a memorable adventure.
The trail we took from campsite to lake had seemed easy enough, straight, then slight left, then hard left. But it hadn’t been clearly marked, and somehow we missed the hard right and slight right that would have dropped us on the straightaway.
I love to hike, one of my favorite ways to spend time with my guys, but they are the outdoors-men, the pathfinders, the Scouts. Here I was in the clear leadership position – Tween was eight that summer – and, while I knew we had missed our intended way, my best guess was to turn right and aim for the road.
It didn’t take too long to get out of the forest, but then we walked for two hours more, winding roads between this campground and another, none of them ours. Tween complained of hunger, thirst, fatigue (after all, he’d been swimming prior to our unexpected hike). I held his hand and did my best to bite down my concern while I encouraged him that we were having our very own adventure, that this would be something we’d talk about for years to come (true!). We told stories and made up jokes and prayed, me distracting him best I could.
My heart held a mixed-bag of emotions: frustration that I’d gotten us into a mess; anger that Guy hadn’t sent out a search party; pride that Guy trusted me and hadn’t sent out a search party; wonder at the beauty surrounding us; joy in the sweet softness of my little guy’s hand in mine.
True confessions: I have an odd habit leftover from my learning-to-type days… I ‘type’ words I see along the roadside by moving in order the fingers that would strike the appropriate keys. So I remembered the street signage because I had ‘typed’ them as we’d driven past the day before. At least I knew we were finally headed in the right direction!
Of course we eventually made it back to the campsite to find Guy and Teen not at all worried (again, an honor or an upset?). They figured we’d enjoyed a detour, or maybe we’d headed to the showers, but either way they knew we’d be fine. And we were, truly, just a little shaken, and colder and hungrier than we had been two hours earlier. I especially felt frazzled around the edges as my strong-for-my-kid exterior crumbled head to toe.
This story works as a metaphor for the human predicament. The path should be simple enough but we’re not equipped or able to find it. We’ve made more than a few wrong turns. We’re lost. We see some signs here and there but the hike is hard work, lonely, stressful. How I would’ve welcomed the help of a ranger! We need someone to show us the way, and Jesus is The Way (more on that next week).
Meanwhile, it helps to recognize that we are lost, to stop pretending that we know exactly where we are and where we’re going. We might as well be honest with ourselves and one another. Faking it will not help us make it. At least in our honesty we can express and experience compassion for fellow lost travelers.
Connect
Reflect on a time when you or someone you love got lost.
Study
Read aloud Romans 3:9-20.
Who is under sin’s power (vv. 9-10, 19-20)?
Jesus calls us to love the Lord our God “with all [our] heart, soul, mind and strength” (Luke 10:27), which covers every aspect of a person’s being. In this passage, note how Paul describes how each of these four aspects of a person is affected by sin.
Which description in vv. 10-18 most stands out to you, and why?
What is the power of the law (vv. 19-20)?
Live
Give some examples of how you see the power of sin over people.
From this passage, how do you respond to someone who says that people are essentially good?
How do we in the church still try to justify ourselves by works of law?
Read Psalm 1:1-3. How do you “delight in the law of the Lord”? How is your daily Bible reading useful in becoming conscious of your sin?
How can a regular practice of confession work as an antibiotic against sin?
What is Jesus saying to you through this passage and how will you respond?
Pray
Pray that the Spirit will convict you of sin and guide you deeper in relationship with your God.
