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Do You Know the Way?
Joe Killian • May 11, 2017
In college I had the opportunity to compete in an orienteering challenge. The race, through the wooded hilltop of a nearby forest, required us to use only a compass and a map as guidance tools to find markers on the course as fast as possible. Competitors are timed but start in one-minute intervals so no one can simply follow another competitor.
I took off up the hill and quickly found the first marker. I consulted my map and compass and headed off towards the second marker. Half way through the race I knew I had to be doing well because I had passed a number of other competitors. Then I lost my way. I had to stop running and figure out what had gone wrong. I wandered around the woods for a while trying to get reoriented in the right direction. I got turned around once or twice and thought about following someone else but realized they might be lost as well. Eventually, using my compass and map I got back on track. I reached the next marker and eventually made it across the finish line. Unlike a typical race you don’t know who won immediately because you have to wait until everyone finishes.
When the results were announced I was both disappointed and excited to have finished second. If only I hadn’t gotten lost! My competitive nature had allowed me to do very well in spite of my inexperience and lack of skill in “orienteering”. What I learned at the time was how important it was to stay focused on the true north of the compass. My guide. That is the message straight from the "Guide's" mouth in this week's Gospel:
Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father." John 14:1-12
Thomas, as though he was figuratively lost, asked a legitimate question. "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" This dialogue occurs in the midst of the Last Supper. Thomas and the other disciples are about to feel literally lost in the coming days. Jesus is preparing His disciples for the future, both immediate and eternal.
Where is this future and how do we get there? Thomas asks. Jesus strongly emphasizes that "the way" is in "knowing" Him and His Father. However, the knowing that Jesus shares with His Father is somewhat lost on Thomas and Philip. They struggle with the deeper meaning of this kind of deep and abiding, knowing relationship.
When we don't understand what it means to know Jesus it is like being lost in the woods. We find ourselves turning in circles chasing after the wrong people and things. It is only when we "know the Way" that He can guide us to the Father's dwelling place. Knowing Jesus provides us with an internal compass that guides us in the right direction. Do you know your guide?
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
