And Hansel said to Grettle, "Let us drop these breadcrumbs, so that together we may find our way home. Because losing our way would be the most cruel of things."

It seems that every conversation I have been a part of these past several weeks with many different people settles on this one issue: Everyone must find their own way. Some people don't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and whether they realize it or not, their journey is bringing them toward an encounter with Him. It is an encounter wherein they will accept or reject him, and if the latter choose - it is this bystander's hope that they might arrive full circle at the same choice, realize the emptiness that comes with that rejection, and let history provide wisdom for a different choice.

For the sinner, life without Jesus is a circular journey that never even really begins until the life-saving, life-bringing relationship with Him is formed. It is only then, that the journey has any substance at all. It is then, and only then, that satisfaction can be found.

For no man stands and gazes at the Grand Canyon and marvels at himself. Indeed, we are designed to find satisfaction not from within, but from without - from something or Someone much, much greater than ourselves. It is the reason that there is such emptiness and disappointment in habits, occupations and relationships. It is why we are blown away every time we look at Orion's Belt, or gaze in wonder at a newborn baby. But even these wonderful moments are but brief hints - foreshadows of an overwhelming relationship with the King of Heaven, the very Maker of Heaven and Earth - the One Thing in which our life's purpose is found. For those who have become followers of Christ, your journey has ended and begun all at once.

And there are those who do know Jesus, who have lost their way. For reasons too abundant to cover in a thousand writings, those who at one point in their personal history pledged allegiance to the Savior of the world and out of deep gratitude for His newfound-presence, all-consuming forgiveness, and life flowing outward from within find themselves on paths and roads most unfamiliar.

Losing your way on the journey is unfortunate, but losing your reason for the journey is a fate more cruel. Because losing your reason for the journey is to lose yourself. And once you lose yourself, you have two choices: find the person you used to be or lose that person completely. Because sometimes you have to step outside the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be, the person you wanted to be - the person you are.

-TD