The Scenic Route. Ok, Fine! Lost.
Some people call it getting lost, but I prefer “taking the scenic route.” It sounds more poetic.
The scenic route takes you along roads with fabulous scenery, over massive mountains and lush valleys, down back roads, and over beautiful bridges. Doesn’t that sound nice?
Sure. Until I sat in the middle of Oklahoma in the thick black darkness, no street lights, no exits, no GPS, and no map. Nothing but dirt. Dirt and a red-eyed creature with giant claws and a long tail who looked hungry for flesh. And there I was in my car, practically serving myself to him on a silver platter.
Take that…Leroy!
I was 21 years old, heading home to Tennessee from my first semester of college in Oklahoma. Rather than going east like I was supposed to, I chose the “scenic route” through the bowels of Tulsa. I’m not sure how long it took me to figure out Tulsa was not on the way from OKC to TN, but by the time I did, I was on a deserted road, out of gas, with a larger-than-average opossum about to eat me.
I was determined to be brave. So I did what any brave person does — — I named the monster staring through the windshield. (I don’t hang out with a lot of brave people…) If that wicked little opossum was going to attack me and slowly rip my flesh with his jagged, gnarly teeth, I was going to die screaming his name in vain. Take that…Leroy!
“I have no idea where I am.”
After yelling obscenities at Leroy for a few minutes, I remembered the bag phone (this was 1995) I had in the backseat. I grabbed it, unzipped the bag, fumbled with the cord trying to plug it into my cigarette lighter, and called a friend in Oklahoma City.
“Hi, Michael. Um. I took a slight detour on my way home to Tennessee…through Tulsa, I think. Yes. I know Tulsa is not on the way to Tennessee. Thanks. Anyway, silly me, I ran out of gas. You need directions? Dude, I have no idea where I am. I think I passed a sign for Tulsa before I ran out of gas. I’m somewhere between OKC and whatever comes after Tulsa.”
I don’t know how Mike found me, but thankfully, he did. Thanks to him, I eventually made it safely to Tennessee. Nonetheless, I definitely took the long road.
The sheep.
Looking back on my “scenic route” through Oklahoma, I feel like an idiot. First, the route was clearly marked. Second, I’d traveled from OKC to Tennessee before with zero problems. All I had to do was focus on going the right way. And yet, I still got lost.
Do you know how much of my life follows this pattern? 😵
I was doing what I was supposed to, but then I just got lost…
I was: trying to survive abuse, but then I got lost: I moved in with a drug dealer…
I was: trying to make up payments for my car, but then I got lost: I waited tables at Hooters.
I was: on my way to get a carrot, but then I got lost and ate a whole carton of ice cream…and then threw it up.
I was: going to be a wonderful wife, but then I got lost and almost ruined my marriage.
I was: a survivor, but then I got lost and became a victim.
One day it occurred to me: I was like the sheep who wandered away from the shepherd in the parable Jesus shared in Matthew 18:12.
12 …If a shepherd has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, [that’s me!] does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
Matthew 18:12.
The good shepherd searches and rejoices if he finds the lost sheep.
“Doesn’t the shepherd search for the lost sheep?”
That was a rhetorical question in the parable Jesus shared with his audience. They knew the answer was yes. Every good shepherd searches for his/her lost sheep because a good shepherd cares for his flock. Every sheep matters, especially the one that’s lost. Because if a sheep is lost, it’s in danger.
But notice, Jesus went a step further. He didn’t end the story with the shepherd finding the lost sheep. Even better! He reminded his audience that the shepherd rejoiced when He found it. Then Jesus pointed his audience back to how God is that good shepherd: the one who searches, finds, and celebrates.
13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of your[g] Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
Matthew 18:13–14
I’m thankful that even in the most remote areas and on the darkest nights, God searches for me…the one sheep who got lost, taking “the scenic route.”
You matter.
Maybe you’re like me. You started your journey with good intentions, but you took “the scenic route” and found yourself out of gas on a road somewhere between where you were supposed to go and where you ended up. Perhaps there’s even a large rodent staring you down, daring you to get out of your car: addiction, depression, shame, anxiety, grief, sickness, despair… You’re a lost sheep.
But take heart! The good shepherd knows you’re lost, and He is searching for you.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:10)
And get this: He doesn’t just want to find and save you; He wants to celebrate finding you because you matter.
Lord, in this big world, you recognize our propensity to take the “scenic route” and get lost. Yet you notice when we are not where we should be, and you search for us. Thank you for being the good shepherd who cares about each of his sheep. Please help us celebrate with you when you bring even one lost sheep back into the fold. We are one flock, and we all matter. Amen.
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