I've always found adventure in getting lost — in a city, a forest, a wide-open field. Being surrounded by gargantuan buildings or trees that reach their arms to heaven. Totally engulfed by an ethos of curiosity and madness: just me, my camera & a million untold stories. But what about the times when a detour becomes too familiar? We find ourselves in dark places, on the corner of Lost & Anywhere. No streetlights, no starlit skies, no drinking gourd to lead us home. We forget which direction is north. We forget which way is home. I don't think we always intentionally mean to get of the trail. Maybe we get distracted by an innocent view or accidentally take a right where we should have bore left. But regardless of the number of times we get off the path, He is always there, with open arms, to welcome us back home.
Can you imagine that? Coming home, safe & sound, after experiencing the darkest & most terrifying of places. Seeing the faces smiles of your loved ones, rejoicing in your return home. Barefeet, open arms, mason jars of lemonade & sweet tea, the warm embrace of your closest comrades. Home for me is sitting on rooftops, drinking coffee and reading a book in my favorite coffee-shop, my loving family at Tabernacle, grabbing burgers and a couple beers with my brothers and friends, a road trip, crashing on my best-friend's couch after a three hour drive to Danville.
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’" — Luke 15:4-6
Lately, I've been wandering, running: for fun, from fear, in shame. To Him. But I'm grateful for those who have been road maps and compasses. To those who have given me water & bread for the journey. Sometimes we stop to pause & reorient ourselves. Ask ourselves are far are we from home & remind ourselves who the true "True North" is.