This past Sunday I had a blast kicking off the first series of the year at Highway entitled Road Map. Life can sometimes feel like navigating a map…trying to get the right directions so that you can end up arriving at the desired destination. My family and I recently returned from a 2,200 mile trip down through Texas to see family and friends for the holidays. It was a blast spending a week and half with my wife and kids, but there was finally a moment when we arrived back in Colorado to unpack. At Highway, we believe that we are on a journey with Jesus…to know Him more deeply and to intentionally be about the mission He left with us to fulfill. Of course it’s a journey that won’t end this side of eternity…and maybe not even then. Sometimes we forget that each of us are on a different leg of that journey. For example, I might just now be leaving the house heading north on I25, and you are already in Forth Collins headed to Wyoming. Some individuals have grown up in church while others are experiencing Jesus for the first season of their life. And ultimately, each of our paths look a little different. Not the “all paths lead to God/god” kind of different mind you. What I mean is this: You may have grown up in a stable environment, family meals around the dinner table kind of place, but maybe not. Maybe you are just now in a place where stability in your life sounds within reach. Perhaps the ups and downs and roller-coaster emotions you lived with have finally found the closure they were looking for in the embrace of the Savior. And then, as a Good Shepherd who cares for the wellbeing of our soul, Jesus begins to flawlessly direct the choices and changes we need to make and have desperately failed to do so countless times before. We finally realized that we were heading down the wrong street, and truthfully, left to ourselves, would have ended up with nothing but destruction and heart ache. Saul of Tarsus, who later become known throughout church history as the Apostle Paul, found himself in such a situation…traveling down a dirt road to a town called Damascus. When the resurrected Jesus met him in a brilliant flash of light, everything about Saul’s life and purpose radically changed. He went from pursuing HIS own way to passionately following THE Way, the Truth and the Life. Yes, Jesus became the Shepherd of his soul that day. Where Jesus led, Saul willingly followed…even out of his customary Jewish traditions to the far reaches of the Gentile world. You see, here is the point: Each new place Jesus brings us to, becomes an opportunity to take a bold new step in becoming a more open witness to His transforming power. It could be that you are in a new job, a new relationship, maybe a new school or city. Take the opportunity given to you…not to try and reinvent yourself, but truly allow God to open the door for your story to become the very thing that brings someone to Jesus. Yes, there are things that my have happened to you or choices that you regret making in your past, but Jesus is an expert in redeeming those who think their opportunity is gone. It’s pure genius how He can take our renovated and resurrected stories and use them to bring hope to others who have found themselves clinging to desperate pursuits. Be open to change today. Be willing to flip on the turn signal and begin heading in the right direction. I’m sure that Saul of Tarsus would tell you that it’s worth it.