Raise your hand if you've ever been "lost as a goose". Yes, yes, I see hands raising all over techno land! Thank you for your participation!
My Stanley and I went to a concert a few years ago in Little Rock. It was late when we started home; neither of us sees well after dark; neither of us has any patience with GPS (especially after this particular concert night). But given the fact that it was late and we couldn't see and we were in a somewhat unfamiliar area, we decided to give GPS one last try. (Ok, ok, so we were right there at Verizon Arena right on the freeway, but we are from the backwoods and we were tired and blind and nothing is usually ever as easy as it seems. Not for us anyhow. And as much as I hate to admit this . . . I was pretty sure I knew a shortcut. Therein may lie the problem.) Yes indeed, it would have been easy-peesy for anyone but us. But you know us, right? Thirty minutes later and more miles than I care to admit, we were STILL driving in pretty much that same neighborhood. But by now it was very late; we still had a hundred-plus-mile trip home; we needed coffee; we needed a bathroom; WE NEEDED TO GET BACK ON THE FREEWAY. But we were lost as a goose.
I can't say for sure where we went wrong. I can't take full responsibility for the shortcut suggestion; after all, I wasn't the one driving. I did learn that you just can't argue with Siri or the GPS person. (Or The Driver.) They just don't really care. We couldn't stop and ask for directions because real men who drive blindfolded and late at night will not stop for anything. I would have gladly asked for directions at any one of the dozens of well-lit coffee establishments that we passed, but The Driver just would not stop. And didn't I mention earlier that we both needed coffee?? It was certainly not by any fancy GPS help that got us straightened up and headed in the right direction. It was only by the grace of God. You can't make this stuff up. I have never been so glad in my whole life to get back to our form of civilization. We had been lost as a goose.
Do y'all know what "lost as a goose" really means? I do! (Thanks to Google I now know what it means.) The complete phrase is "lost as a goose in a snowstorm"; a southern phrase. (It's not like we get a lot of snow storms here in the South; it must have been someone who migrated here from the North who coined that phrase for us.) If a white goose is resting on a snow covered hillside, then that goose is "lost". But actually the goose is not lost at all; we just can't SEE the goose.
So here we go. Hang on. Yesterday in church this phrase came up in the preacher's sermon. We all knew what he meant, but I couldn't let that thought go. Lost as a goose. The preacher was referencing a lost person. (For all my non-protestant/non-Baptist/ non-non-denominational friends, "lost" is a term that describes someone who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you're lost, this is bad; this is very bad. It's LIFE or DEATH bad. It's my job through this silly goose blog to get you pointed in the right direction. Disclaimer: You DO NOT have to be a protestant or a Baptist or a non-denominational to be saved/not lost; it's about the relationship, not the religion. Which religion was Jesus? My point exactly.)
A white goose lost in a white snowstorm is hidden from anyone who can help. Someone could even get close to the white goose but not realize there was a goose at all, yet the goose just stands there and watches to see what kind of help is coming his way.
Enough of my silly goose analogies.
In this crazy world we're living in now, there are so many people who are lost as a goose; they have no relationship with Jesus Christ whatsoever. But they just might have a relationship with US. Do we see their need? If I were lost and saw something so totally life-changing in someone else, I'd at least be curious and have a few questions; I might even want what they had for myself. I might even want them to come to me and offer a better life than what I had.
Do our lost friends see something in our lives that makes them want that peace and love that only God can give? Do our lost friends/co-workers/relatives look at us and wonder why we're not even offering to help point them in the right direction? What does it do to our testimony (and credibility as a Christian) if we have a hissy fit temper tantrum at a crowded, non-socially distanced Wal Mart in front of the 23 strangers behind us in the checkout line? Are we living the kind of life that radiates the love of God at ALL times? That's what I want, but I sure mess up along the way sometimes.
Just a little food for thought. Let's just be aware. Let's show a lot of love. Let's go goose hunting!
"For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."
Matthew 25:35, 36
