Last night I had the priviledge of taking the 2010
ARRIBA students to the airport. I was asked to take the Pan-American Highway to the airport. This is not my usual route and I haven't gone that way in years. Major road construction is taking place on the Pan-Am and many signs have been removed. Well needless to say I missed the turnoff and we continued on through town. It wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't traveling at rush hour. Traffic was at a complete stand-still and we sat for nearly 30 minutes at one intersection. We nervously watched the clock as it became dangerously close to our required airport arrival time. I was still calm until my cellphone chimed with a text message: "Are you at the airport? We can't find you..." Then I realized something was wrong. We called and found out that we were way off course. We had actually gone about 10 miles out of the way. Thankfully we spotted another airport sign and made our way, the scenic route, back to the airport. The students' luggage was already there so they jumped out of the van before we even pulled into a parking space. They rushed in to find the ticket counter, ready for this, CLOSED! Their flight actually left an hour early so they had to wait 24 hours for the next outgoing flight.
Perhaps the most notable part of this story is that for the longest time we didn't even know we were lost. (I know you're thinking, "haven't you lived in Lima for over 8 years?" Yes, its a massive city with many ways to the airport!) As we sat in traffic we were content thinking that we were "just going with the flow." The thought came to my mind last night that our trip to the airport is like many people's lives. Their wandering around in their meaningless life and they don't even know that their lost. Proverbs 14:12 talks about this reality when it says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Are we pointing our friends and neighbors to Christ? Are we asking them the important questions so that they realize they're lost? Are we sharing the truth that there is only one way to heaven? My trip to the airport last night reminded me anew of why we are in Peru: Millions of people here are lost without Christ.
