Missing the mark

I was trekking in New Zealand in 1996. In our group, each person was assigned a role; there was a leader, a cook, a first-aider, a navigator etc. The leader’s job is to make sure everyone is safe and going in the same direction so that we can get to our destination on time. Sometimes it was because it would be dangerous to walk after sundown because of snakes or animals. Other times, it would be because we needed to reach a certain summit so that we can complete the trek in the days allocated. But the navigator’s job is irreplaceable. His job is to be alert of his surroundings, make sure he reads the map correctly and directs all of us, including the leader to the right direction. Unlike the city, we don’t have landmarks like buildings to look out for, in the forest, the navigator looks out for peaks of mountains, knolls, valleys. Looking and rechecking his compass at small intervals of the trek. He reconfirms with the actual vegetation and plant life that we are in the right direction. Our navigator for this trip however was a person who thought he knew a lot. He didn’t check his compass nor map very much. He led us ‘by instinct’. He was a person who likes trekking, and he treks very often. Once, we stopped and he looked at the map, and we walked for a long time before all of us felt we were on the wrong track. He still persisted on trekking ahead without the map. When we finally insisted on stopping, we discovered we had veered miles OFF the trail we intended, and had to back-trek all the way, wasting previous time and endangering the lives of all of us. We were all hungry, nervous of unfamiliar surroundings, and mostly angry at the guy who thought he knew. We had ‘missed the mark’. If only the map was checked more carefully and regularly, we would have been on the right track.

Sin is like that. Once we become complacent, started thinking we are ok, give an inch here an inch there, and before we know it, we’re deep into it. No one has never fallen off the track. However the good news is that with God, we always have a U-turn. We can always back trek, re-examine, go back on track.