U Turns

August 29, 2019

We must have set a record for the most U-turns in a single four day vacation. There was hardly an exit I didn’t miss, a road I didn’t drive down aways and turn around. Maybe once, or perhaps twice, my navigator didn’t warn me in time, but most of the time I just wasn’t paying attention. 

The last U-turn was a doozy. We were heading north on Route 79 south of Erie, needing to make the exit to 90 and home. I’ve driven that road dozens of times without incident, but this time... You guessed it—Next thing I knew, we were driving down Route 79 into downtown Erie; not where we wanted to be. We ended up in sections of the city I’d never seen before, but fortunately, I understand the basic layout of the streets and was able without further wrong turns to get us on Peach Street and back to Route 90. It was a bit of a delay, but 49 years of marriage has taught us a few things, and we both laughed it off. At least I think she was laughing.

It did get me to thinking. Sometimes we make a bad turn because we don’t know where we are going. If you don’t have a goal, any old road will do. But this time, I knew where I wanted to be; I knew what road would take me there. What I didn’t know was where I was. 

I wonder how often I’ve tried to share the Gospel with someone, showing them the right goal, ie. eternal life in Christ by faith. They see the goal; they even see the road it takes to get there, but if they don’t know where they are, they’ll miss it every time. The problem with much modern evangelism is we want to be too gentle with people. We don’t like hurting anyone’s feelings, don’t want them to not like us, so we sugarcoat the Gospel with talk about all God wants to do for them, but fail to help them see where they are right now—sinners in need of a Savior. We’re afraid of being called judgmental, rigid, legalistic, but if someone doesn’t  know where he is right now, he’ll assume he’s already on the right road. 

Linda told me just now that there was a message on our answering machine. My doctor wants to schedule my annual checkup. I feel pretty good, but if he finds something wrong and doesn’t tell me because he’s afraid of hurting my feelings, he’s not a very good doctor. I need to know if my body is on the wrong road. In the same way, the people to whom we are sent need to know—without any sense of judgment or superiority—if they are on the wrong road. The beauty of the Gospel is that God allows U-turns, repeatedly, if necessary. We made plenty of them over these past four days, and have now reached our goal: we’re back home where we belong.