Southern Hills
Church of Christ
Bible Studies
About our...
|
|
Perceptions #200116
"Keeping Your Bearings"
by Ben Brewster
Somewhere in the midst of my childhood I remember someone stressing how important it is for a person to always be aware of his surroundings. At the time I chalked up such a comment in the good advice column and pledged to abide by such simple logic. Unfortunately, pledging and doing are two different things.
This past Thursday, after a grueling shopping session at the mall with my wife, I forgot the wisdom of knowing your surroundings. Admittedly, I was disoriented after trying to keep up with my wife in the mall. It really is not that hard; it's just the amount of time she can spend in each store that confuses me.
As I amused myself (e.g. patiently waiting), I caught a glimpse of my wife. Her shopping stamina was wearing down. Finally, she looked at me and mouthed those beautiful words that every husband longs to hear while at the Mall: "I'm ready. Let's go, honey."
My body leapt for joy as I grabbed her hand and began a brisk exit from the credit-card eating mall. Within a few moments we were once again in the sunlight (albeit the sunset) and were heading toward our vehicle. I punched the remote lock button and reached for the car door (as did my wife) when suddenly I noticed that someone was sitting in our van! I quickly began to sling the door open and corral the obvious car thief when I realized that this was not our van. It seems in my bliss to escape the mall I had confused this van with our van. Luckily the teenage boy who was simply waiting for his mom to come out of the mall did not have a heart condition!
Mendy and I sheepishly apologetically backed away from the van and headed toward our van. As we were reminded, losing our bearings is easy to do. I think the writer of Hebrews also knew this when he wrote, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." There are a host of things that distract us from what is eternal. If we follow the distractions we will always end up at the wrong van. And trust me---that is embarrassing to say the least.