You Need A Guide.

Sometimes I need to take supplies to my husband while he is working. He will call and give me  directions… "Go through the Schoolhouse pasture, take the two-track out past the windmill, you will see tracks going off through the grass - follow them till you see a green gate."

Now, this sounds rather straight-forward, but as any ranch wife knows; this type of instruction can go very wrong. My husband knows I am not good with ranch directions, so he tries his best to be clear when giving them to me. But often, I will end up at a fence line he forgot to mention, or an impassable creek, or maybe a blue gate instead of a green one. I try to call him, and more likely than not - I have no cell service. I get hot and anxious, knowing he is waiting for me. I drive here and there, trying to find the elusive tire tracks, and scanning the fence line for a green gate. Sometimes I find it, sometimes I don't.

But if it is a pasture my daughter has already been to, I just take her along. She can show me exactly where to go. I drive with confidence, knowing that I will be able to drive straight to the green gate. It may be pouring rain, which makes it hard to see -- but I will still get there. It may be impossible to see the tracks -- but I will still get there. It is the difference between having a guide and going alone.

 

You need a guide too.

It's the same in our Christian life. We can listen to the best sermons, read the best books. They are good guides. They may even get us there. But just as often as not - we will end up  somewhere down the fence, wondering where we went wrong - why we didn't end up where we intended to be. We tried to follow instructions to a T. But we are stuck at an impassable, raging river. What happened?

[bctt tweet="It's the difference between going alone and having a guide. #ridewithJesus " username="aranchmom"]

What happened was; we should have taken a guide. We should have ridden with the Saviour. He knows the way. He would have taken us straight to our destination. He's ridden this trail before. But we don't think He is enough. We think others are more interesting, more relevant. We don't like the rocky paths He leads us down. We want warm, sunshiny meadows, and He insists we must ride through dry deserts and down rocky hillsides. His path takes much longer than we like, and it is a lonely path -- not many go His way.

When we go alone..

I have been down the wrong trail. I have come to that fence line and wondered where the green gate was at... Because I rode alone. I didn't partner up with Jesus, I didn't think I needed Him. But when we ride out together, He is a faithful Guide.

He knows every inch of this country, and exactly where the dangerous spots are located. (1 Peter 5:6-11)
He tells us in His Book how to navigate rough spots, (James 1:2-4)
and what is waiting for us at the gate. (Revelation 21)
But we need Him or we'll get lost. (Isaiah 53:6, 1 Timothy 6:21, Cor 11:3, 2 Peter 2:15, )

It's the difference between having a guide and going alone.