The Landmark

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am directionally challenged.
I cannot read a map.
I need landmarks to point me in the right direction.
I am an auditory person rather than a visual person so that is part of the problem.

It is not a problem for me, since I am used to it.
It is a problem for others who think that giving me a map is going to help me in any way.
Visual people do not understand auditory people.
We are an enigma and we are a minority.

On my morning walk, a pickup truck was coming the other way on my street.
I know my neighbors who have trucks.
This truck did not belong to anyone from around here.
I assumed it was someone who was doing work on a house.

The truck slowed down and I thought it was turning into a driveway.
I motioned for him to go in front of me.
He stopped and leaned his head out of the window.
He asked me if I knew where he could find a particular street.

I don’t have my GPS today and I know that I am close to the street, he said.
I thought for a minute.
You are close, I said as I saw all the tools in the back of his truck.
Go out of the development, turn left, and go straight when you come to the church, I explained.

I knew I turned into the wrong development, he admitted.
He thanked me and drove off.
I thought about how I use landmarks in my directions and not street names.
I tend to give directions in the way I like to receive them.

The church I referred to is the church where my daughter had her wedding.
It is down the road from our house.
It is an old-fashioned country church with a steeple that is seen for miles.
In fact, my daughter had someone take a picture of that steeple surrounded by fall foliage.

She framed that beautiful photograph never imagining that she would be married in that church.
It is not our little church, but she got permission to have her wedding there since it is special.
That church was my landmark.
That landmark was crucial if the man wanted to find the street successfully.

J.M. Barrie wrote his play, Peter Pan, in 1904.
Wendy Darling asked Peter Pan about the location of Neverland.
Second to the right, and straight on till morning was Peter’s answer.
In 1953, Walt Disney added one detail: second star to the right, and straight on till morning.

Disney added a landmark for those who are directionally challenged.
I can picture the second star on the right.
I have a little trouble with straight on till morning but my imagination helps me.
I gave the man in the truck a landmark to look for, a point of reference.

I am so glad that my landmark happened to be a church.
The church is central in our little town.
Say the name of that church and immediately people know where you are.
Everything was built around that little country church.

I can imagine how our little town must have looked then.
The church has stables where I can easily see horses and carriages in my mind’s eye.
The tall steeple with a cross on top would have been the focal point of the town.
The bells, that still chime during the day, called the townspeople to worship.

Isn’t that the way is should be?
Shouldn’t the church be central to our lives?
Shouldn’t that call to worship continue to beckon?
Shouldn’t that steeple with the cross on the top be seen for miles around?

One of my favorite comments by author and pastor, Max Lucado, touches on this.
Lucado said that churches should not have names, just addresses.
The church on the corner of 5th and Main, I remember him saying.
That assumes there are many churches central to people’s lives and easily accessible.

I did exactly what Lucado suggested when I gave the man in the truck his directions.
Go straight when you come to the church.
Of course, the church is more than a building.
The Church is the Body of Christ, His people; not a physical structure.

All over the world, the Church meets together for worship.
In persecuted countries, the Church meets in secret places in fear of persecution.
In countries that are hostile to the spread of the Gospel, a Bible is a treasured possession.
The joy on the faces of those receiving their very own Bible should challenge us.

How joyful are we knowing that we can freely worship?
How grateful are we that we can freely listen to the preaching of God’s Word?
How amazed are we that we belong to the Church?
How well do we love our other brothers and sisters in Christ?

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you,” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:13-18)

Nothing will come against Christ’s church.
Nothing.
The church buildings may crumble and fall but the Church body will continue to thrive.
We have to start seeing the Church for the treasure it is.

In Christ, we are part of His Body.
All over the world we have brothers and sisters in Christ.
All over the world the Gospel is preached.
We are called to, Go and make disciples.

Until every last person has heard, we go.
We read the Word of God.
We share the Gospel.
We love our brothers and sisters in Christ especially by praying for them.

The Church, His Body, is central to our lives.
The Church building is a landmark to which we should all point.
The Church building is a place where we bring others so they see the Body of Christ in action.
The Church will thrive.

Go out of the development, turn left and go straight when you come to the church.
It really is that easy.
It is an invitation.
It is a beckoning.

We are directionally challenged no more when the Cross is leading the way.