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Are you following?

One of the members of our church family recently shared with me a story from when he and his wife were visiting Jerusalem, let’s call him John. It was not the first time John and his wife had been, yet they still decided to join one of the many Christian tours available. John tells of how amazing it was to be touring around the Holy Land again, but that the group they were with was very large. So large, that the tour guide enlists John’s help to keep everyone together. ‘If you could take up the rear of the group, and just keep everyone following me, that would be great’ the tour guide says to John. John agrees, thinking, ‘I have been here before, I won’t miss much. Sure! Plus, how hard can it be?’ Famous last words, I assure you.

Some time, in the middle of the tour, one of the ladies turns to John and says, ‘have you seen my husband? He wanted to get cash, but still isn’t back.’ John, very quickly realised, they had a problem. After a quick word with the tour guide, John goes off in search of this man, and spends a long time trying to track him down. After hours of searching, they finally find the husband, who was oblivious of all that had happened, and was wandering around aimlessly after an ATM that his card would work in. It became a bit of a running joke for the rest of the tour, but most definitely caused a bit of a ruckus at the time. The husband, rather than follow the tour guide and trust that the tour guide would lead him to all that he needed to see and do (including visiting an ATM), decided to go off on his own, based on his own, limited, knowledge, to do his own thing. Sound familiar?

How many times in life, have you found yourself wandering around… perhaps, having started to follow God, letting him lead you through everything, then suddenly thinking, ‘I need to go do this… over here… I’ll be right back!’ Or perhaps, where God was leading seemed strange or challenging or simply a direction which you didn’t want to go in, so you decided to do your own thing for bit? Maybe I’m the only one, but sometimes, it seems like the things God is leading me into, don’t make sense, or seem incomplete, or seem like they aren’t leading me to what I think I need right now (like the husband and the ATM).

But throughout scripture, we see reminders to keep our eyes on God, and let Him be our guide. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’ I absolutely love this reminder we see in scripture. We need to trust God fully, not leaning on what we can see and understand, but truly trusting that God is guiding and leading us, where we need to go. The route which He takes us, may not be the one we would have chosen, however, as we submit (a word, that if we’re honest with ourselves, is a struggle to contend with in our society), if we submit to God and trust Him fully, we know that He will take us where we are meant to go. And what better place to be, than where God wants us to be, right?

So, I wonder where God may be guiding you today? Are you fully paying attention to your ‘tour guide’ and following where He is taking you, or are you off trying to find your ATM machine by yourself?

The thought this week was written by Adrian Semerene, Minister at Gamlingay Baptist Church and one of our Newly Accredited Ministers receiving their handshake at the BU assembly later this month.