In the news recently is a brief report about two adults who became lost over the weekend in the rugged mountains of North Carolina. The couple from Miami, FL had planned to hike only a couple of miles from the parking lot to a waterfall where they had planned to have a picnic. As they went on their way, however, they lost the trail and became confused about their direction. They were lost for three nights before they finally came to the Blue Ridge Parkway where they were able to flag down help. How frightening the experience must have been not only for them, but for the friends and family who did not know what their fate would be.

The couple may be embarrassed about it all, but they are not alone because we all have experienced the anxiety of having lost our way. It is quite an uneasy feeling that hangs over us as a threatening cloud when we don't know which way to turn or whether we'll even be able to survive. Many of us are uncomfortable with death, but there is also the distressing state experienced by the realization that spiritual death has occurred when we have wondered away from God like the prodigal of Luke 15:11ff. The prophet writes, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). Through the grace of God, we may be forgiven of all of our sins through the offering Jesus, as High Priest, made in offering up himself, the Holy Lamb of God (see Hebrews 9:12). Jesus teaches us in his Word how to be cleansed from our sins.

May we always remember God has blessed our lives in giving us the map (the Holy Bible) whereby we are able to find our way through life unto the destination of his choice, the glorious eternal city in heaven. Another of God's prophets writes, "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).

Like those who searched tirelessly for the lost couple over the 20 square mile park, may we who know the way seek diligently and tirelessly for the precious souls who have lost their way, before they experience the second death. "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (James 5:20). Like those spoken of in Luke 15, let us rejoice with those who are found!