Mr. Albert never expected to get lost the day he left his friends in the mountains of Bolivia. They had had a happy time singing hymns and reading the Bible together the day before. He had stayed overnight, and now he planned to take the bus home. He would have to walk a few miles over to the road in order to catch the bus.
“Stay on the footpath,” his friends told him. “Don’t go on the goat-path.”
So Mr. Albert started out on the path to find the road. A bus would be coming by sometime that morning and would stop to pick him up. Everything went fine for a while, but the path often divided and went in two directions. He was not always sure which way to turn.
Soon Mr. Albert noticed that there were goat tracks on the footpath. Perhaps he had taken the wrong path. He went back to check, but now it seemed that there were footprints on the goat-path, and goat tracks on the footpath! How could he tell which was which?
Mr. Albert continued walking, but just ahead someone had dragged firewood along so that it was impossible to see any path at all. He walked back to where the thorn bushes had blocked out the path to see if he could find it again. But to him it looked as if the path went in all directions. Now he couldn’t find his way back to his friends, and he couldn’t find the road. He had less than a quart of water and was lost in a Bolivian desert!
Mr. Albert knew he was lost, but there are many people in this world who are lost and they don’t even know it. You don’t have to be in the middle of a desert to be lost. Thousands of people in this world are lost because they don’t know where they are going when they leave this world. Many would like to go to heaven, but they don’t know how to get there. They are lost in their sins, because they have turned away from God.
But there is good news for people who are lost. It’s found in the Bible in Luke chapter 19, verse 10. “The Son of man [Jesus] is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (The Lord Jesus came into this world to look for and to save those who are lost in their sins. If you would like to go to heaven but don’t know how to get there, then turn to the Lord Jesus. He said, “I am the way” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
When Mr. Albert realized he was lost, he said a prayer in his heart and then climbed a hill to see if he could see anything. There were only desert sand, thorn trees and another hill to climb. He climbed the second hill, and in the distance he could see what looked like a slice in the mountainside. It could be the road. He took off, forgetting completely about paths, and walked toward the slice in the mountainside. When he got there, he found it was the road! Not long after that a bus came along and took him home.
Mr. Albert found the road almost by accident, though it was with the help of God answering his prayer. But if you are saved it will be no accident, for Jesus has been looking for you. Are you 8 years old? Then He has been looking for you for 8 years. Are you 12? Then Jesus has been looking for you for 12 years. Come to the Lord Jesus today for salvation and you will be on your way to heaven.