Recovery From A Wrong Turn

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  

Have you ever gotten lost running a 5K? Yipes! It can happen – it DOES happen once in a while, especially on trails…the Almost Memorial Day 5K (it was a 5K back then) and Coach Mike’s XC come to mind. That Blake Gammill 5K/10K Trail in Douglasville has some pretty deep woods, too.

The most embarrassing wrong turn I ever took – actually I made the mistake with fellow runner Tom Wendell – we both got lost, and didn’t know we were lost until it was too late!

Backdrop: in November 2010, both Tom and I were squeezing out every point we could for our age group standings. After running the SOAR 5K in Athens, both of us hustled over to Buford to make a Dollars for Scholars 5K at some kind of environmental center near the Mall of Georgia. Nice place!  Well Tom and I were both kind of dragging up the rear, but before we knew it, we began approaching the start/FINISH area – hmmmm after only 17-18 minutes. We missed a turn somewhere. Ain’t no way we were placing 1^st and 2^nd.

So we sat down about 1/10 mile up the road from the finish, waiting for the real runners to appear. Sure nuff, here came Casey Mull and Gary Piligan. Next, Roger Keel, Rhonda Trainor, David Oblinger…there was no way we could finish
in front of the “elite” runners. So we just sat. And waited. When it was clear we would be the last ones in our age group, we got up and finished.

I think neighborhood kids resituated some orange cones during the race and that’s why we missed a critical turn, cutting about a mile off our route. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

But missing the turn in the 5K disrupted the plan. We got off course. We wasted time, energy and $$. Most of all, our finish was all messed up, not at all what we hoped for. Bummer instead of a reward.

So sometimes we get off course in life, too. It’s easy to get “way down the road” before we know we’re off course, and it’s too late to turn back. Try as we may, we cannot turn back the hands of time.

So here’s the road map to a new start. God says our part is to confess our sins – be brutally honest with Him about where we got off the path! When we do, here’s what God will do: 1) He is faithful (you can count on Him); 2) He is righteous (no, He’s not looking the other way “wink, wink”) – rather Jesus as the Lamb of God shed His blood and died for our sins; 3) He will forgive us our sins; and 4) He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness! And He raised Jesus from the dead to prove these things are true!

So, we cannot return to yesterday’s start line for a “do-over.” But we can accept His invitation to a new start today – a new beginning that leads to a victorious finish line in Jesus. This reality – the ability for a new start after a wrong turn – or LOTS of wrong turns – breeds deep, abiding HOPE in the human soul!

So, “Runners, have a good race, and have a safe race (in life!)” Ready…. Set…. Go! (of course, as only Carole Black can say “go-o-o-o-o!”).