Getting Lost, Costs

Jim and I got a Garmin for Christmas. What an amazing marvel of science, though we are still in process of learning how to work it. I understand that it is going to keep us from getting lost. No more arguing over highways. No more battling maps. With the tip of a finger we will be able to find our way most anywhere on the planet.

That's really good news because I need it. I know all about lost. I've been there more than once. The importance of knowing where I am or how I am going to get there is a documented fact. Not knowing usually ends up in disaster.

Recently I was on a trip to Amarillo , Texas for a book signing. A five and a half hour drive was just what I needed to calm my spirit. Spiritual music was the order of the day, as well as keeping up with friends on the cell phone.

No surprise that while on the phone I made my first mistake. I missed my turn in Wichita Falls . Instead of turning west to Amarillo , I headed north to Oklahoma . Luckily it took me only five minutes to figure out what I had done.

As I turned around, the Lord poured a spirit of conviction upon me. “If you don't pay attention to where you are going, if you are too busy talking to others and not to me, you are going to take the wrong turn and get off the path”, he reprimanded.

Hard of hearing, I mistook his reprimand to be about highway driving.

Two weeks later I was on the same road again, back to Wichita Falls . You would think I would have remembered the way. Deaf and dumb I once again pulled out the cell phone. This time I almost made it to Oklahoma , only twenty miles short of the border, before I realized my mistake.

Instead of I-287, I had taken I-35 all the way to Gainesville which is due east and north of my destination. Where was Wichita Falls ? I had to get out the map to find it.

What a great lesson on life. Some of us have to get off the path more than once to discover that we've made the wrong turn. Consulting the Bible is the only corrective measure that gives God's answer to our problems. But how often we do not consult this biblical map?

In this situation I thought the Garmin was my solution. Where was it when I needed it? Consulting the map I discovered that I had gone an hour out of my way. What started as a leisurely drive had ended up as a mad dash to make a deadline. One speeding ticket and five minutes to spare, I braked in the driveway for the signing leaving a trail of dust and a stressed out heart behind.

This time the Lord spoke louder. “You are not following directions,” he said. “See how easily you got off track. Without constant supervision you are in danger of getting lost.”

Clearly God was not warning me about being physically lost but rather he was guiding me on a spiritual journey, showing me in the natural how easily I get off the spiritual path.

Getting lost, costs. Hopefully I learned a lesson that day.

Now God is my Garmin . I check in with him daily, before I get out of bed. Using this Wichita Falls lesson helps me determine if I am on God's path or if I have taken another detour. The Lord lets each of us know, in no uncertain terms, when we are getting off the path. The point is to listen.

Right now my journey involves my book “Generation G – Advice for Savvy Grandmothers Who Will Never Go Gray”. People ask me what the book is about. At first I wasn't really sure what the themes were. It is always hard for an author to tell what their book is about. But after a bit of study, I discovered many themes but I was still unable to grasp why the Lord had given me this book? What was I to do with it?

Gradually God's plan has emerged. For reasons I do not yet understand, I have been given a platform to talk to grandmothers about the importance of leaving a legacy of faith to grandchildren. That is my greatest and by far most important message. But there is more. Not only am I to give a message but I am propelled and implored to exhort grandmothers of the urgency and importance of this assignment.

The days are short. Night draws nigh. The message of the gospel is the only hope to save our world. Each day the light of Christ is more stifled. Watered down so as not to be politically incorrect, the gospel is getting lost in the world of humanism and post modernism where tolerance trumps truth. But the truth is God's truth trumps everything.

As grandmothers we are exhorted, directed, challenged, called, pushed, and shoved to fulfill our call to pass on our faith while there is still time. I exhort you - find a way. Do it now. Pass on your faith in ways that your grandchildren can understand and will remember long after you are gone. Their life might depend on it.

Without God, they may only have a Garmin to keep them from getting lost. And a Garmin is not enough. So I am interested in some of the ways that you are doing your part to point the way. Let me know how you are sharing your faith with your grandchildren.

If you are not, I implore you, do it now, before it's too late.

Getting lost costs, not only for yourself but for your children and grandchildren, and that is too high a price for me.

Marty Norman is a wife, mother, and grandmother, who lives in Fort Worth , Texas . She is the author of “Generation G – Advice for Savvy Grandmothers Who Will Never Go Gray.”