I have a good friend who is very bad with directions. The cardinal points are completely lost on him, and without the blessed technological gift of GPS or Google Maps, he would be utterly lost.

He has now lived with his family for over ten years in the same house and in the same city. However, if he is more than a two-mile radius away from his home, he would not be able to get home without plugging it into his GPS.  

Now this is not a new thing. He has never had any sense of direction. He has gotten lost in familiar cities numerous times and was rescued only when he would call his wife, and she would have to verbally, and painstakingly, tell him how to get back on the right road.

And here’s the weird thing. I actually think that the advances in technology, the digital, out loud directions, has made his problem a lot worse.

He has moved around a lot, and it used to be after few years he had his bearings, but now by only concentrating on a small screen of directions and verbal commands, it’s as if he is walking through the world with a telescope aimed at just the sidewalk in front of him.

I mean, he is able to still find where he is going, but because technology has so narrowed his focus, and spoon fed him every turn he needs to take, he has no idea where he actually is.  Familiar landmarks and points of reference have been tossed aside for a small screen and a voice that tells him when to turn.
Unless I’m on a long trip or have never been somewhere, I try not to ever use my Google maps or Waze. I like to orient where I am by looking around and seeing how the city is laid out or noticing how geographical features – like rivers or valleys – have shaped the routes we take.

As a church, when we are too focused on only what is right in front of us, it is impossible for us to navigate into the future.  Yes, we have to watch where we are walking, lest we trip and fall, but we also have to pick up our collective heads and plan for what lies ahead.

Pastor Tim Wrenn will be joining us soon, and one of the first things we are going to do as a staff is to have a mini-retreat.  We’re going to pull back a little and see where we’ve been and where we’d like to go.

I can’t wait to see all the possibilities . . . and then to help get us there.

In the meantime, I’m going to send my friend an actual street map of his city that he can touch and feel and fold.

In Christ,

Pastor John D. Morris