How do I get there from here?

I live in the Quad Cities. The name comes from the four cities on the border of Illinois and Iowa. Moline and Rock Island are the two cities on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, and Davenport and Bettendorf are on the Iowa side. I live on the Illinois side of the river.

I can find my way around my city pretty easily. The streets are laid out North/South and East/West for the most part and are numbered, in order. North/South routes are 'Streets' and East/West routes are 'Avenues.' This makes it easy to find your way around.

Across the river is a different story. The streets run in every conceivable direction, turning, curving and twisting. Their names seem to change with every change of direction and it doesn't take me long to get lost there.

To make matters worse, some streets don't even have signs. There is nothing more frustrating than driving around looking for a street and finding no signs! I don't know if the economic downturn has prevented the city from purchasing signs or if they have been stolen, but too often they are not there! Sometimes there is nothing. Sometimes there is just a pole. Sometimes they are there, but they are covered by trees or other brush and you can't see them until you've already passed the street you're looking for. And when you're lost already, the lack of good, clearly visible signs is frustrating. That's one reason I don't go across the river very often. I don't like feeling lost and somewhat foolish.

I recently had a conversation with a young lady who has never really been to church. She came with a member to watch The Passion of The Christ when we showed it before Easter. She had many, many questions and I was amazed at how little she knew of Jesus and His church. I realized that our language must have seemed foreign to her. We refer to things like salvation, sacrifice, eternal life, and I imagine she felt like I do when I cross the river; lost and somewhat foolish.

Since that conversation I have thought about how important it is for us to be signs. Not only present, but clear. This young lady has had several opportunities to see me away from the church building, and I am reminded how important it is for my life to be a clear, present sign pointing those around me to God.

Peter says, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." (1 Pet. 3:3, ESV) Our job is to be clear and present signs in the lives of those around us.

We often assume that those around us know something about where they are going, but as I learned, there are some out there who have no idea. When they look to us for directions, we must be there!

Think about it.