It seems for quite a lot of people, there is a very real need to assert that they may be wandering, but they’re definitely not lost, and no one needs to save them. Bumper stickers proclaim this “not lost-ness” and Pinterest boards are filled with memes about the virtues of wandering.
What do you do when you don’t just want something, but you genuinely need it? You find a way to get it, don’t you? You keep pushing for it, and you don’t back down. You know that no one is going to give you what you need. You have to make it happen on your own.
It was about 9:30 pm on a brisk fall evening in Detroit that my life would change forever. I had worked all day in a trauma orthopedic unit. Afterward, I had gone to class and was physically and mentally exhausted as I made my way home. The streetlights lit each corner of the quiet neighborhood as I was driving down the street to my home. When I pulled into my driveway, I didn’t notice the car pulling up behind me. Thinking it was the guy delivering my paper, which usually came at night, I didn’t think anything about it.
We all need it, and yet we all struggle to get it. It makes us do better in every area of our lives, and yet we treat it as if it is optional. It helps us achieve our goals, yet if we don’t get it, we cannot become all we were meant to be. So what is it? Sleep.
A few years ago, my husband and I traveled to Montana in April. We were so excited for our trip to fly fish, horseback ride, and hiking- all the great things you do at a ranch. We kept watching the weather thinking it was going to be great weather. The forecast was showing around 70 degrees during the day and in the 50’s at night. We were imagining sitting out by the fire at night, enjoying fishing in the creek with fresh green grass all around us.
Jesus did not stutter or make a suggestion. He stated a divine demand: “Make Disciples.” What many believers set aside as optional, Jesus stated as an essential command to be obeyed. When Jesus returns, His first words to His church just might be, “Why aren’t you doing what I demanded?”