Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK
Nov. 15, 2011

“Going in the Right Direction”
“Run to God! Run from evil!" – Proverbs 3:7b (The Message)

A woman calls her elderly husband on his cell phone. “John, you need to be very careful coming home!” she exclaimed. “I just heard on the radio that there is a car going the wrong direction on the freeway.” Her husband answered, “It’s not just one! There are hundreds of them!”
On this thing called the “Highway of Life” we may traveling in the wrong direction and not realize it until we run into the obstacles that could endanger us. We also discover how easy it can be to simply, “lose our way!”
On Monday, February 6, 1995, according to the Chicago Tribune, a Detroit bus driver finished his shift on the Route 21 bus and headed for the terminal. But somehow, he took a wrong turn. He didn't arrive at the terminal at the scheduled time of 7:19 P.M., and a short time later his supervisors started looking for him. Mean-while the driver's wife called the terminal and reported her husband might be disoriented from medication he was taking.
For six hours, the forty-two foot city bus and its driver could not be found. Finally the state police found the bus and driver – over a hundred miles northwest of Detroit. The bus was motoring slowly down a rural two-lane road, weaving slightly from side to side. The police pulled the bus over, and the driver admitted that he was totally and completely lost!
A police news release later stated, "The driver had no idea where he was and agreed he had made a wrong turn somewhere. Apparently this had not occurred to him during the four hours he drove without finding the bus depot. The bus driver had been driving this same route for close to 15 years!
The prophet Isaiah wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray." (Isaiah 53:6). We think we know the way until we take a wrong turn. If God is not leading you - who or what is?
Solomon implores us to; “Run [to] God!” Go toward Him. Move your life in His direction – or better said – Go the way He is going. Perhaps the Psalmist says it best: “You have made known to me the path of life.” – Psalm 16:11
God’s “way” leads to life’s greatest destinations: Peace, Joy, Hope, and best of all Love. The road is not always smooth but it is the best.
Conversely, we are told to “Run [from] evil.” Evil’s “way” leads to destinations that are not at all to be desired. They are, Hate, Bitterness, Depression, Hopelessness and the worst or all, Destruction. And too often, like the man in the first illustration we may not always be aware that we are the ones going the wrong way. It is easy to blame others for our problems—see ourselves in a positive light but in truth, we are not headed in the way we should be. Which direction are you headed?
Pastor J. T. Carnell