It took bouncing along an Alaskan dirt road in a green bus to make me think about how I usually journey through life on well-marked paths, mostly paved smooth with abundant signage.

So begins a story written by Cindy Young, during a particularly difficult season. Her writing expresses well where I sense God taking us in our next series on Sunday mornings. Cindy continues . . .

The bus was my only motorized option to get to Wonder Lake Campground in the center of Denali National Park’s six million acres. I would be dropped off at a campground, pitch my tent and hope for a view of Mt. McKinley. But most of the other passengers had different plans. They came to hike in back country. And, as the driver counseled those disembarking, there are very few trails in the park. This was wild land, where you must navigate by compass and by wits. Most of my life, I’ve been way-keeping. I’ve been working off a map with clearly-marked trails, a prescribed ordering of things. But, today, despite being home from Alaska, I am unsure of my next steps, disoriented and in unknown terrain because I’ve somehow lost the trail of where I thought my career and skills were leading me. Mid-life, I’m told, is where I am. And here I find need for way-finding, the same skills the hikers would use without trails. Heed the wisdom spoken by the bus driver who has spent a decade walking this land. Keep the mountains to your right. So, in this new territory, seemingly without the skills I need for way-finding, I am wise to remember who is my guide and my ultimate destination, and to trust his guidance and light for my feet, whether on a trail or in wilderness. He created this ground on which I walk. He knows this wilderness.

The “in Christ” life, rightly understood and pursued, is very much like traveling in new territory. Followers of Jesus are part of a different kingdom with a different King from that which most of the world follows. And so we try to find our way. Many try to live the “in Christ” life as if following a map in a new country. The Bible is the map, so we think, and we either try to understand it and follow it, or neglect it and hope for the best on our own. This “map” is infallible. It perfectly reveals to us God’s will, but we are not to follow it like a map. Rather, it points us to the Guide, the Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus works within us, using the map of His Word to guide us. But if we miss the Guide, we will never grasp the significance of the map.

The book of Colossians is all about the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ, our Guide to learning how to live in the new country of God’s Kingdom. I’m so encouraged by my study of the first part of the book in recent weeks and can’t wait to share it with you.

Gene
P.S. It’s been an amazing week of Sports Camp where we’ve had record attendance, and the week before that where our student ministry led a VBS and two children prayed to receive Christ. Please pray for these last two nights of Sports Camp as we share the gospel each evening and seek to bless the community around us.