A parable teaches us how to get on the right path

It had been a long day and I was ready to make my way back to my car and drive from Statesboro to Dublin. I had just watched the West Laurens Raiders beat Statesboro in a football game and all I wanted to do was return to the office, write the story and head home – hopefully before the sun rose. 

I programmed my phone’s GPS to tell me the best way to make my journey from the football stadium because I was not familiar with the route. 

I remember how things used to be before the invention of the GPS. You either had a map to look at or hand written instructions. As a youth, I loved to sit in the car and follow our path on a map to wherever we were going.

My father took my brother and I on a trip to Texas in 1994. We did not need a GPS to get us there. We followed a map and the signs along the side of the interstate. 

But on that night in Statesboro, I was by myself and had no one to help navigate my way home when the voice from my phone said, “At the next road, make a left.” 

I saw the road, and since no one was coming from the other way, I made my turn. That is when I saw the wrong way sign. By then, it was too late. I had already made my turn.

Thankfully, I saw no headlights heading my way. That was still not a good feeling. I was able to make a u-turn on that one-lane road, and made it back to the intersection where I made another u-turn and was able to correctly put myself back on the correct route.

There was one other time in life when I did something similar. I was making a left turn onto the newly opened bypass in Baldwin County after arriving back at my high school from an out-of-town football game after midnight. The good news was no one was driving my way that night. 

I thought about these situations after I saw a woman drive the wrong way around the Laurens County Courthouse a few weeks ago. Co-worker Kyle Dominy and I were stopped at the traffic light at the courthouse intersection heading out of town. I could not help but notice a car stopped facing the wrong way on a part of the road that traffic should be going the other way.

We watched as thankfully everyone driving toward East Dublin moved over into the right lane and avoided her. Eventually, our light turned green and she proceeded to make a right turn in front of us. Dominy, who was driving, made it a point to leave plenty of distance between us and her.

When it comes to life, we need to know the direction we are traveling towards. Heading the wrong way down a one-way street is a recipe for disaster.

In life, we know when we have made a bad choice and are heading down the wrong road. For some of us, it is easy to figure out that we are not heading in the right direction, just like when I made those wrong turns in Statesboro and Baldwin County.

Many of us make bad decisions but decide to continue on that path. Jesus talks about this in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A young man wanted his share of inheritance from his father early. He goes off down the wrong path and makes bad decisions.

After a famine hits, this young man is left with no money and has to feed pigs for a living. He gets to the point where he is jealous of the pigs because they at least get to eat.

He eventually comes to his senses and returns to his father. The young man probably thought that he would be scolded and humiliated. Instead, his father sees him from a distance, runs to him, hugs him and throws a party. 

The important part for all of us  is to realize we have made a mistake, but all we have to do is make a u-turn and get ourselves back to the right path.