Orienteering

Have you ever heard of orienteering? When I was a Pathfinder, we sometimes went orienteering. For orienteering, you need a compass, a map, and a set of instructions. Then, your team has to race other teams to try to get to the destination first.

When you go orienteering, you have to look at your first clue. It might say, “Go 300 meters on a heading of 180 degrees.” So, you take out your map and put your compass on top. You measure the direction and distance, then you carefully adjust your compass. When you’re finished, the compass will point in the correct direction. If you can see your destination, you go to it. If you can’t, you find some landmark that’s in the right direction, such as an unusual tree or a big rock. When you get there, you take out your compass and take another reading.

Once you get to your first destination, you look at your next clue. It might say, “Go 150 meters on a heading of 94 degrees. So, you take out your map and compass and find your next destination.

You always have to be careful, though, because if you aren’t, you could wind up off course. Going off course isn’t good, because you won’t be able to find out the next destination until you go all the way back to the last clue’s location. And it’s hard to win a race that way.

Orienteering is a lot of fun. You get to see places you wouldn’t normally go to. When you’re in the mountains, you probably aren’t on a trail. And you get to test your ability to go from place to place without getting lost.

God’s way is kind of like orienteering. Life is sometimes confusing. We don’t always know what to do. But God gives us a map, a compass, and clues. The Bible is our map. It shows us our destination. Prayer is our compass. When we pray, God tells us which way to go. And other Christians are our clues. They can help us to understand where to go.

The Bible says this in Isaiah 30:21: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ ”

Do you want to be God’s orienteer?