It was a beautiful summer's day made all the more beautiful because we were in Paris and I was engaged in one of my favorite pastimes...wandering the streets of an unfamiliar city or village, peeking into windows, imagining what life must be like in this place day after day. Once I spent an entire day strolling through the back streets of London intent on not making contact with any other tourist or visiting any "must see" sight. But this day I was in Paris wandering with my son, seven years old at the time and who, then as now, fails to share my sense of wanderlust. We had been ambling for a couple of hours while the women in the family shopped with imaginary money through the great fashion stores of Paris. I could have easily gone on for several more hours of amiable wandering when Ian pulled back on my hand and stopped short. I looked down and was about to yank him like a reluctant mule when he said something that had me stopping short as well.

"Are you lost?" he asked.

I pondered the question for a while. The truth, of course, was that I was absolutely and unconditionally lost but I never thought in those terms. Indeed, I was pretty comfortable being lost and so I told him so. Whereupon Ian's eyes filled with tears and horror.

"Dads aren't supposed to be lost!"

And maybe we're not but I've discovered some wonderful treasures being lost and despite my son's definitive declaration, I intend to get lost again.

I am convinced that there are many people who believe that Christians shouldn't get lost either. A great deal of Christian history has been engaged in making sure no one wanders off. Sometimes, indeed oftentimes, the means and methods of such guidance have been less than Christian. There is, of course, enormous value in having road maps and guides. There are times when we need to move from one place to another in a timely fashion but there are reasons just for wandering, be it through the streets of Paris or the letters of Paul.