The Goodness of Knowing You are Lost

The Goodness of Knowing You are Lost

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Knowing you are lost when you are lost 
   is far better than
      being lost and not knowing.   
Not knowing you are lost leads you to real trouble.


As a navigator on a C-130 cargo airplane I was always responsible for the position of the plane.  For me, I was never lost, even when I did not know where I was, I was never lost.  Now, I might have been temporarily disoriented but lost?  I  was never lost.  Even when at night, in the darkness of the middle of the Pacific, after dodging severe thunderstorms for an hour, when asked by the pilot, "I need a heading (direction to fly), Lonnie"; I always had the answer.  I worked at always having some idea of where I was.  But, this was not true for a pilot and his navigator planning to land at Takhli Royal Air Base in Thailand late one clear afternoon in June of 1973.

Takhli had a runway running North/South, easy to find, and had plenty of electronic navigation aids.  One afternoon, a plane in front of us was planning to land at Takhli, went through all the clearance procedures and landed.  But, upon landing, the tower could not see the airplane on the runway to give it taxi procedures for parking.  It was a big "Oh no" moment for the pilot and navigator. The problem with the landing was another North/South runway about three miles almost due south of Takhli. The "oh no" was the big "no no" of landing at a tower controlled airport without clearance, that plane, now behind us, was on the wrong runway at the wrong airport, temporarily lost.  A pilot and navigator with plenty of navigation aids and on a clear day were lost and did not know it.

There are many "good people" we see every day that are lost and do not know it.  Here are some ideas to think about to determine if a friend is possibly disoriented or just plain lost.

You just might be lost if:

1-  You go to church on Sunday and live your life the other six days never thinking of or about Jesus Christ.

or if

2-  You tell people, "I love my church" but cannot remember the last time you told God or anyone "I love God".  Ok, you are thinking, "I love God, and He knows it, why do I have to say it."  I ask you, "If you have children, does it not feel good to hear it from your child, 'I love you dad' or 'I love you mama'."

or if

3-  You tell people or think, "I am a good person, I help others,  why do I have to repent of my sins, I am not the worst person in the world, so why do I have to worship God?"

or if

4-  You cannot remember the last time you prayed.  Hearing a prayer does not count.  Through our prayers, Jesus knows us better.  God does know all our thoughts, but He still wants us to tell Him what we think and what we need?
 
or if

5-  You can remember the last time you prayed and it was all about, "I want".

or if

6-  Your prayers are mostly, "Dear Lord, I need.....  and I need it right now."

or if

7-  Your name is on a church membership list but no one at any church knows you.

or if

8-  Your Bible has dust on it.

or if

9-  You cannot remember the last time you heard 
            "Repent" from the pulpit or in Sunday School.

or if

10-  You have read all nine of these and you really think you are safe.  When was the last time you asked God to forgive you of your sins?  Repenting seems to be a rarely used word in many churches but, 

Jesus had important words for us about being repentant.  It was the His first command, not the greatest command, but the first command of Jesus:

Matthew 4:17 NIV

From that time on Jesus began to preach,

     "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near".

Being repentant of our sins, is good for us, it cleans our heart and releases us from great worry, worry we might not even realize we have.

Luke 15:7 NIV

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Thanks Be to God
========================
And the lost pilot and navigator, 
they were punished!  Upon arrival back at their home base, they were relieved of their operational flying duties, put through "some" retraining, and went through full testing of all phases of flying before being returned to full flying duty.  It was a warning to everyone.  

Use your Navigation Aids 

and

Don't Get Lost

Who is your Navigator, so you don't get lost?
Live Life with the Perfect Navigator,
He will always have the right guidance and direction to go.

Thanks Be to God

lonnie

                                       

© lonnie coggins

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© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.com

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lonnie


Publication 0078