When I was in seminary, the administration asked me to go on a recruiting trip back to Central College, from which I had graduated. So one of the professors and I flew into DesMoines, Iowa, where the college chaplain picked us up. He started to drive us to Pella, a trip of about an hour. The three of us had a great time talking, sharing, and laughing as we traveled. Two of us had traversed this road many times so we knew the way. It was late at night, and it was dark, and I was not particularly paying attention to where we were, so I was surprised when the chaplain slowed down and stopped. As we looked around we realized we were not on the right road – and we had no idea where we were. We did know we were clearly lost. We had not set out to be lost, it was not our purpose to be lost, but we were lost. We were so busy enjoying ourselves that we had simply wandered off the right road. And we had no clue how to get back on the right road.
The reality is that there are a lot of people who are wanderers – people so busy living and enjoying life that they have simply wandered away from the truth, and now are lost. At some point they recognize they’re lost, but have no clue how to find their way back.