Lost in the Woods

​You might know that I like to ride and race dirt bikes. I started riding dirt bikes at the mature age of 4 years old. My son also started riding at 4. We started racing cross country or as some people call it Hare Scrambles about 7 years ago. Between us we have 5 championships and counting. My nephew decided that he would like to see what all the excitement was about and tried his hand at a recent off-road race. Unfortunately, neither my son nor I were able to be there on his first attempt. In cross country dirt bike racing, there are obviously a few rules to follow. I will give just a couple. Stay on the course which is marked with different color arrows based on age and skill level. Don’t cut the track and ride the track as many laps as you can in the time allotted. Okay, you know most of what you need to know. These few rules are pretty simple. Having never raced before and not having much instruction prior to this race, my nephew ran into a few problems. Youth arrows (usually blue) keep you on the youth track. Orange arrows keep you on the much longer and much more difficult adult track. After not seeing his son in a long while and concern my brother called me and asked what he should do. I replied that he probably found his way onto the adult track and is lost or stuck. After much searching, and a considerable amount of time, my nephew was found safe and stuck in a creek at the bottom of a very long steep wet muddy hill. I’m 280 words into this blog and I’m sure you’re wondering when I’m getting to the point. Well; here it is. My nephew was so excited about his first race and although stuck in the mud was still having fun and had no idea how worried his dad was nor any idea how long he was lost. My nephew and I now have something in common. From about five years old or so I spent pretty much my whole life in church. We went all three services for as long as I can remember. Sunday school, youth church, VBS, youth group, young adult, singles, young married, and every other type of class or teaching and preaching there is. As a right divider I look back now and very clearly understand how lost and stuck in the mud I was. The scary part Is that I had no clue how lost I was and for how long I had been lost. No one had ever explained the rules. I’ll share a few of them. Prophecy and Mystery is the true division in scripture. Most of the Bible is addressed to Israel and is written about Israel, leave it that way. Jesus said he was not talking to you during his earthly ministry so believe him. When anyone tells you the words don’t mean what they say, run. Jesus made Paul your Apostle and your pattern during the age of grace so follow Paul to please Jesus. Your marching orders for life and how to live it are found in Paul’s epistles and not the red letters in the gospels. Friend if you’re not following these arrows, you are off course and don’t even know it. You're stuck in the creek and have no idea how long you’ve been stuck. These rules are pretty simple and a good start. These simple rules will keep you on course and aware of the hazards.