lent devotional - off track

Off Track
By Larry Haley

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10 NIV

I used to teach Idaho Hunter Education to youth. I also went hunting each year with a small group of friends. One lesson I taught was what to do if you became lost. This included a discussion about how being lost would feel – panic, fear, anxiety. If left unchecked one could make bad decisions and possibly make the problem worse.

​To counter this I taught them a process to “chill” out. The process: Sit down, build a little campfire, eat and drink something. This would give them time to relax and be able to think and plan what the next step would be.

One hunting trip my friends and I split up with a plan to meet at a certain point in the late afternoon and be picked up by another to drive back to camp. About mid afternoon I realized I wasn’t where I thought I was. Immediately those feelings I had taught about were happening to me! But I knew what to do. This calmed me down and I was able to get back on track and reach the meeting point on time. 

We’re always getting off track, lost, even with the best-laid plans. There are many things in life we don’t control. But there is one who is in control, our God, who has laid out a path for us and provided a spiritual guide and a written guide for us. When that “off track” feeling hits us we can immediately go to our spiritual leader and our written guide for help. 

Prayer: Lord, we your sheep are always getting lost. Watch over us and give us that push and prod that we need to get back on track. Amen