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WE DON'T NEED A MAP; WE NEED THE GUIDE

In A Slow and Certain Light, Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rainforest East of the Andes. It was the first time they are trekking the forest but they sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians.

She writes, "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me-—confident and, we think, well-informed and well-equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?"

She suggests that we often ask God for too little. "We know what we need — a ‘yes or no’ answer please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign, something quick and easy to point the way. What we really ought to have is the Guide Himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are good things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way."

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