At my job, I wear a lot of hats: greeter, registrar, scheduler, helper, problem solver, team worker, paper shuffler and more. One of the things we do a lot at the front desk of our busy medical office is direct people. Depending on which doctor they are seeing, we direct them to the waiting area they need. We direct people walking in from outside to other offices in the same building. We do that a LOT and I wish we could get a dollar for every time we’ve told someone how to get to Midwest Urology!

It gets hectic sometimes in the hubbub and so once in a while, we get mixed up and accidentally send a patient to the wrong area, then have to run and get them and take them to the right place.

I’ve walked that office a thousand times and it’s all very familiar now. After telling people these things over and over for years I’ve gotten in a routine of what I say to describe how to get to where they need to go.

We had a new worker up front one time who was struggling with giving directions. Granted, there are several places the patients can go so keeping them straight when you first start is a little tricky.  However, I heard her telling some of them for this one particular office to go downstairs through the double doors into the waiting area. After she said this several times, I teased her and said, “Friend, there is only one door. I’m afraid people are getting confused when you say double doors.” She looked at me puzzled, so I asked her if she’d ever actually walked down there. I told her that might help her explain it to the patients.

It made me think that it’s a lot more effective and simpler to help someone get to a destination if we’ve actually been there ourselves. Not just in traffic directing, in life, too.

How much more can I walk with someone through grief if I’ve walked through it myself? How about through a serious illness, or recovering from surgery, or unemployment and foreclosure, or dealing with the pain of raising a troubled teenager, or raising any teenager for that matter?

I can’t really lead someone where I haven’t been.

I help lead music and worship in our church and heard another leader comment about this once, saying she realized she can’t really lead people into God’s presence if she has not been there or doesn’t regularly go there herself. It makes so much sense.

I think about Jesus, who said He is the way to the Father. He walked this earth, in this life, in a body like ours, with emotions like ours, and struggles like ours. He knows the way so He can lead the way.  He knows joy, heartbreak, hunger and thirst, loneliness, betrayal, exhaustion, peace, love, friendship, and grief. He’s been in all of those places. He had people judge him, talk about him behind his back, accuse him falsely, and connive against him. He had people follow him, listen intently to his every word, call after him for help, and cry out to him. He had crowds of people clamor to be near him and then crowds of people angrily shouting for his death. He had a loving mother and father, family, relatives, and friends. He had enemies and those who were indifferent toward him. He walked through all the things we do so he understands. He has been there. And He can lead the way.

We need help navigating this life and getting to our real home and forever life in heaven someday. Jesus said He would be with us always so if we just stay close to Him and follow his directions, it’s all good. He’s been there.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. – John 14:6 NLT

“I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” – Matthew 28:20 CEV