The Long Road Home

I'd like to share a story a story with you all from my summer vacation and make some parallels with our own spiritual journeys.

I was in Ludington, Michigan camping with some family and friends when I decided to go for a run. I wanted to run to a lighthouse 1.8 miles away and then back again totaling about 3.6 miles, plus another half mile back to our campsite. I figured it would take less than 45 minutes. So I began my run to the lighthouse, no problem at all. When I reached the lighthouse I remembered my aunt had suggested that I run the beach so I decided I was going to run along the beach back to our camp site.


After running about half a hour on the beach I started to wonder why I had not seen my destination. I figured maybe I am running slower because I am running in sand, plus the distance is probably not exactly the same either, maybe it is a little bit longer of a route. I am sure that I am going the right direction. So I keep running, I am pretty sure the camp grounds are right around the corner. I run another 15 minutes, still nothing. Hmm, well I know I went the right way, so it must right around the corner. I'll walk a little and I'll be there before I know it. I walked 15 minutes still nothing. As I look around, maybe I see it off in the distance, although at this point I am beginning to think that it is possible that I went the wrong direction. But you know, it is not going to kill me to go a little further, I would sure hate to be five minutes away and turn around and go back the other way for an hour. So I ran another 15 minutes. Nope, I definitely ran the wrong way and now I am about 1 hour and 15 minutes the wrong direction. The only things I have seen in the last hour and 15 minutes are beach, sand dunes and lake Michigan, oh and one person but that was over 45 minutes ago. My mouth is completely dry, I am sunburned and pretty close to being dehydrated. You see, I've only had about 16 ounces of water in the last three and a half hours and I spent the last two hours before my run on the beach playing with my niece. As I begin my long trip back, I decide that I am probably in no condition to run back, so I'll walk but even that proved to be a challenge. After about half an hour I wanted to just sit for an hour or so but people were waiting for me so I pressed on. I started thinking, man, I really need something to drink but that is not going to happen. Two minutes later there it is lying in the sand, dirty, hot but unopened, a bottle of gatoraide. At this point I don't really care that the bottle of gatoraide is covered in sand. I just wanted something to drink. But there was a problem, the bottle seemed to be defective and I found myself unable to open the bottle, but I was somehow able to crack the bottle and gatoraide began to drip out of the bottle slowly. It was just what I needed to make it home. Well, it took me 3 hours and 40 minutes to finish what I thought should be a 45 minute run. When I returned to the camp site, family and friends were glad to see me and informed that they had been looking all over the place for me.


We all start off on our journey's in life with a destination in mind. Maybe we have people telling us which way to go and why their way would be so much fun. We begin our journey off the path but maybe we think we are going the right direction and we know what we are doing right? After a while we look back and think am I going to right way, am I living my life the way I should? Of course I am, things are just a little rough right now, they'll get better. So we continue on the path, trusting in ourselves and our own abilities to get us where we need to be. A little while later still on the same path and we begin to look around, is this really where I want to be, who I want to be, and is this where I want to be going? Maybe I did make the wrong choice, nah, not possible the goal, the destination is just right around the corner I can feel it now. Plus, if I am on the wrong path I have been on the wrong path for a long time and it is a long road back, too long in fact. So we continue living the same life, but maybe a little worried about where exactly we are headed. Finally, after enough wandering aimlessly, we are brought to our knees and realize, I can't do this on my own, I need help, we call upon God to direct us.

Yes, it is a long road back and maybe this long road back is the not the easy way, but it is the right way. As we struggle on the way back God is right there with us. Providing for us everything that we need. When we finally do return home, there is great rejoicing. Not in what we have done but in what Christ has done for us and in us.