Finding the Way Through

Ordnance Survey has a mobile app called OS Maps that allows you to follow walking routes mapped out by others. Because you can see your location on a map via GPS, you know you’re going in the right direction, and it helps you get back on track when you’re lost. On 28th March, I went on a walk at Knepp Estate and I started using an OS Maps route even though I kept seeing these wood posts with paint on them. I was heading east through a field, and because there was no discernible pathway, I followed the app… right into an impassable fence. I walked north for about 5 minutes looking for a way through but only found another impassable fence, and it was only when I went south that I finally found the gate. In front of the gate was one of the wood posts with paint on it. I had trouble finding the way through because I kept following a dodgy map provided by someone else instead the signposts provided by the landowner.

We follow Jesus as king, so nothing in our lives remains untouched by his rule and reign. Because he is our ‘landowner,’ we follow his signposts in the Bible to understand we’re going in the right direction: what we value, how we spend our time and money, the media and entertainment we consume, how we relate to others, how we treat our bodies and God’s creation, and more. When we follow the ‘maps’ provided by others - the values of our culture and of friends and family members who don’t follow Jesus - we often have trouble finding our way through life.

At Bognor Vineyard, we want to make sure we are following God’s signposts in the Bible, and in the words he has spoken to our church over the past few years. We believe we have come to a stopping place which is giving us the opportunity to make sure we're following his way together.