Lost & Found in a Tour Group..

I was traveling with at tour in southern France when we stopped at Aries, a charming little French village.  We had a break of about 30 minutes before the tour was to continue, so I and many others, got off the bus and went about exploring the village.  I went off by myself to have a look around.

The Village was quite old, almost as if it had been steeped in time,  I followed down one road and then another, curiosity leading me on, until I came to an ancient Roman amphitheatre and coliseum.  I spent some time exploring this wonderful old treasure from the past.

The Roman amphitheatre was at the centre of the village, and every street radiated out from it like the centre of a wheel.  After some time, it was time for me to be getting back to the bus, otherwise they might leave without me.  But which way was the way back?  I couldn’t remember for the life of me.

All the streets looked the same.  But time was marching on, so I had to try, so I picked a street, and went down that one.  No, that one wasn’t it.  So I went back to the Roman Amphitheatre and used it as my base to try and get my bearings.  I tried another street and then another, nope that wasn’t it.  I tried to talk to some of the locals in my limited French, but I couldn’t get myself understood.  In the end, in despair, I simply returned to the Roman Amphitheatre and sat down, and resolved that if I couldn’t find my way out, they’ll have to come to me, that is, if they came looking at all.  I contemplated what it might be like to speak French for the rest of my life.

After about 20 minutes of sitting there, I heard a loud voice, “ooy, where the hell have you been?”  One of the women from the tour group had found me,.  Mind you I wasn’t terribly popular when we got back to the bus, it made us late getting to our next destination.

This experience reminds me, that there are millions of people in the world who are spiritually lost.  Many don’t even realize that they are lost, many more, in their realization of the lost-ness, have gone down the wrong spiritual road.  And then there are those who realize their lost-ness, and the Savior has found them in their lost-ness, and led them to safety.