Getting Lost Is Not a Waste of Time

I recently heard about a Marine field exercise that took place at Camp Lejeune, N.C. A night patrol was making their way through some thick brush when halfway through, they realized they’d lost their map. The patrol navigator informed the rest of the squadron that the odds were 1 in 360 to make it back to their base of operations. One of the Marines asked, “How did you come up with that figure? One chance in 360?” “Well,” the navigator replied, “one of the degrees on the compass has to be right!” 

Obviously, those Marines were lost! Thankfully, it was only a training exercise, but they were lost, nonetheless. I think most of us have had those moments when we’ve felt lost and without direction.

There is a line in a popular song by Jack Johnson that resonates with me. He sings, “Getting lost is not a waste of time.”

No doubt feeling lost and without direction can be disconcerting. But, those moments are also heavy with potential. God is giving us the opportunity to look around and notice the blessings that surround us even now. We also are given a reason to reflect back on where we’ve been and to think again about where we thought we were headed. These “lost” moments are times to ask, “God where would you have me go? What is the next right step for me?”

I happen to believe that we worship a God who wastes nothing. God can use our past, and even our uncertain present to do new things in us and through us. May it be so.

Our prayer today comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. Let us pray:

Eternal God, you call us to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.