When I was a boy, Daniel Boone was my hero. He visited our farm house once each week, as played by Fess Parker on the television show heralded by that memorable theme song: “From the coon-skin cap on the top of his head, to the tip of his rawhide shoe, the rippenest, roarinest, fightenist man the frontier ever knew. Daniel Boone was a man, yes, a big man, as he fought for America to make all Americans free. What a Boone, what a doer, what a dream-come-a-truer was he!” In the opening credits, as the theme song played, Daniel Boone held his ax, threw it, and split a big tree, clean-in-half! Ah, the stuff of a boy’s dreams. When I grew up, I wanted to be Daniel Boone.
But I never could throw an ax that well. The ax was dull and never once stuck in a tree. And I really can’t shoot very straight. I shake too much. Yet there was one skill I shared with Daniel Boone. For the real-life Daniel Boone once observed, “I have never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” How many times, while my wife and I were road-tripping, even out in the Rockies on dirt-track mountain roads back in 1988, did I scoff at the idea of checking a map? Or these new-fangled smarty-pants Google Maps! I don’t need that kind of help. I always know exactly where I’m going!
Well, maybe I was once a little “bewildered” the first time my wife and I did a road trip on the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. From Dollar Bay, we drove over to Lake Linden, and it sure felt like we were going in an easterly direction, though the map clearly showed that from Dollar Bay you are heading northeast—mostly north. Then we headed south to Bootjack, down past the famous Dreamland Restaurant, and from there to Jacobsville, White City, and the Lower Portage Entry. Now, I knew from the map that we had headed south, but it sure felt like we had headed north. That, as I recall, prompted denial and disbelief in me! I figured my wife had read the map wrong, because I am blessed with a perfect sense of direction. So my momentary bewilderment caused a wrong turn or two (thankfully there aren’t many road options down around Jacobsville or it would have been more). That, in turn, prompted a lively dialogue between driver and copilot, plus one of her memorable eye-rolls. Things got even worse when I argued, “It must be the mineral deposits in this area that are messing up the car-compass and my internal compass!”
Maybe I am a tad stubborn when it comes to checking a map or asking for directions, but from what I hear, this is not my failing alone. It’s a “guy thing.” We males, as a rule, live with this inner conviction that you could set us down on the dark side of the moon, with no compass or map--just a space suit and a back-pack for supplies--and, like some modern-day Daniel Boone, we would find our way back to civilization with nary a misstep or wrong-turn!
However, when it comes to spiritual matters, this bravado and false confidence is not just a “guy thing.” It is, tragically, a “guy and gal thing.” Without our Lord, without His illuminating gift of faith, and without the divine guidance He provides in His Holy Word, we will invariably point our nose--not in the direction of heaven, but in the direction of hell! You don’t believe me? Then listen to what the Lord says about the human race and its feeble attempts to find its way to Him!
The Prophet Isaiah, speaking about the Lord’s own Chosen People could say, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. . .” (Isaiah 53:6a) Saint Peter, writing to believers scattered throughout the world, could say, “For you were like sheep going astray.” (1 Peter 2:25) Now, if I were lost out in the bush somewhere, and the good Lord allowed me to choose one animal as a companion to guide me home, I would never, in a million years, choose a sheep! Sheep are too dense, too flighty, and too helpless. Yet God, in the pages of His Word, consistently compares the entire human race to a huge flock of sheep. God’s point behind the comparison? By nature, apart from our Lord and in the death-grip of sin and Satan, we are all dumber than a bag of hammers! Totally lost!
Our only way out? Let The Lord Be Your Guide! Because when it comes to navigating the twists and turns of this life, and when it comes to following the path that leads to heaven, you and I have only One option! That is the One who told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus found us when we were hopelessly lost in our sins and far too stubborn to admit it! (Luke 19:10) Jesus lived for us, died for us, became our life-blood, and gave us a spiritual pulse! Through his Spirit’s work, Jesus came into our hearts and gave us new life, new hope, and new direction. He gave us a working spiritual compass—faith! Faith to see Him! Faith to hear Him! Faith to trust Him! Faith to follow Him! Faith to walk hand-in-hand with Him through the twists and turns of this sinful and sometimes difficult life. Faith to hold on tight to Him when weaving our way through tragedies, setbacks, and temptations that are like magnets for our old sinful nature. Faith to know that the Lord’s Word is the only lamp for our feet and light for our path! That means when blind guides waltz into our lives, peddling their satanic wares and tempting us to wander off hell-bent, you and I will check their guidance against God’s own infallible compass, the Bible. And we will throw away whatever does not match what the Lord tells us.
Only our Lord knows how to get us to heaven. Jesus once said, “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. . .Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (John 6:45-47)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
But I never could throw an ax that well. The ax was dull and never once stuck in a tree. And I really can’t shoot very straight. I shake too much. Yet there was one skill I shared with Daniel Boone. For the real-life Daniel Boone once observed, “I have never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” How many times, while my wife and I were road-tripping, even out in the Rockies on dirt-track mountain roads back in 1988, did I scoff at the idea of checking a map? Or these new-fangled smarty-pants Google Maps! I don’t need that kind of help. I always know exactly where I’m going!
Well, maybe I was once a little “bewildered” the first time my wife and I did a road trip on the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. From Dollar Bay, we drove over to Lake Linden, and it sure felt like we were going in an easterly direction, though the map clearly showed that from Dollar Bay you are heading northeast—mostly north. Then we headed south to Bootjack, down past the famous Dreamland Restaurant, and from there to Jacobsville, White City, and the Lower Portage Entry. Now, I knew from the map that we had headed south, but it sure felt like we had headed north. That, as I recall, prompted denial and disbelief in me! I figured my wife had read the map wrong, because I am blessed with a perfect sense of direction. So my momentary bewilderment caused a wrong turn or two (thankfully there aren’t many road options down around Jacobsville or it would have been more). That, in turn, prompted a lively dialogue between driver and copilot, plus one of her memorable eye-rolls. Things got even worse when I argued, “It must be the mineral deposits in this area that are messing up the car-compass and my internal compass!”
Maybe I am a tad stubborn when it comes to checking a map or asking for directions, but from what I hear, this is not my failing alone. It’s a “guy thing.” We males, as a rule, live with this inner conviction that you could set us down on the dark side of the moon, with no compass or map--just a space suit and a back-pack for supplies--and, like some modern-day Daniel Boone, we would find our way back to civilization with nary a misstep or wrong-turn!
However, when it comes to spiritual matters, this bravado and false confidence is not just a “guy thing.” It is, tragically, a “guy and gal thing.” Without our Lord, without His illuminating gift of faith, and without the divine guidance He provides in His Holy Word, we will invariably point our nose--not in the direction of heaven, but in the direction of hell! You don’t believe me? Then listen to what the Lord says about the human race and its feeble attempts to find its way to Him!
The Prophet Isaiah, speaking about the Lord’s own Chosen People could say, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. . .” (Isaiah 53:6a) Saint Peter, writing to believers scattered throughout the world, could say, “For you were like sheep going astray.” (1 Peter 2:25) Now, if I were lost out in the bush somewhere, and the good Lord allowed me to choose one animal as a companion to guide me home, I would never, in a million years, choose a sheep! Sheep are too dense, too flighty, and too helpless. Yet God, in the pages of His Word, consistently compares the entire human race to a huge flock of sheep. God’s point behind the comparison? By nature, apart from our Lord and in the death-grip of sin and Satan, we are all dumber than a bag of hammers! Totally lost!
Our only way out? Let The Lord Be Your Guide! Because when it comes to navigating the twists and turns of this life, and when it comes to following the path that leads to heaven, you and I have only One option! That is the One who told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus found us when we were hopelessly lost in our sins and far too stubborn to admit it! (Luke 19:10) Jesus lived for us, died for us, became our life-blood, and gave us a spiritual pulse! Through his Spirit’s work, Jesus came into our hearts and gave us new life, new hope, and new direction. He gave us a working spiritual compass—faith! Faith to see Him! Faith to hear Him! Faith to trust Him! Faith to follow Him! Faith to walk hand-in-hand with Him through the twists and turns of this sinful and sometimes difficult life. Faith to hold on tight to Him when weaving our way through tragedies, setbacks, and temptations that are like magnets for our old sinful nature. Faith to know that the Lord’s Word is the only lamp for our feet and light for our path! That means when blind guides waltz into our lives, peddling their satanic wares and tempting us to wander off hell-bent, you and I will check their guidance against God’s own infallible compass, the Bible. And we will throw away whatever does not match what the Lord tells us.
Only our Lord knows how to get us to heaven. Jesus once said, “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. . .Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (John 6:45-47)
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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