You may have traveled a long way in the wrong direction—but you’re still only one turn away from heading home.
A Christian psychologist., whom I’ve known for decades, recently said something that stopped me in my tracks:
“Dale, everyone is running from something.”
I’ve thought about those words many times since.
Everyone is running from something.
Some are running from their past. Others from disappointment, guilt, loneliness, failure, fear—or even from God.
Maybe today is the day to stop running.
When Your Whole Life Hurts
Not long ago, I was counseling a woman in her sixties. She had lived what most people would consider a successful life. She had made quite a bit of money, accomplished much, and God had used her in meaningful ways.
But things had changed.
“The world is no longer something I even recognize,” she told me.
Then she said five words I haven’t forgotten:
“Now, my whole life hurts.”
Perhaps you understand exactly what she meant.
Pain doesn’t always show on the outside.
A person can look successful and still be hurting. You can have money and still feel empty. You can even attend church, know the songs, understand the language, and know how to look like a Christian—while something important is missing inside.
Jesus spoke of people who honored God outwardly, but said:
“Their heart is far from me.”
—Matthew 15:8
It is possible to be close to the things of God while your heart has drifted far from God Himself.
Maybe something inside you is saying:
That’s me. I’m running. I’m hurting. Something isn’t right.
If so, there is something important I want you to know:
Apart from Jesus Christ, you will never find the lasting satisfaction you were created for.
You may find temporary pleasure. You may distract yourself for a season. You may stay so busy that you don’t have time to think about what is happening inside.
But eventually the distractions end, and you are alone with your own heart.
People try all kinds of things to fill that emptiness—money, alcohol, drugs, entertainment, relationships, possessions, work, success, and even religious activity.
But none of those things can repair a heart that needs God.
It’s like being thirsty and trying to satisfy your thirst with salt water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.
That’s what happens when we ask this world to provide something only God can give.
When Running Feels Like Freedom
Jesus illustrated this beautifully in the story we call the prodigal son.
A young man had a good home and a father who loved him. But he wanted his inheritance. He wanted independence. He wanted life on his own terms.
So he left home.
At first, I imagine it felt wonderful.
Freedom!
Nobody telling him what to do.
But Jesus tells us that he squandered what he had in reckless living. Eventually, it was all gone.
Isn’t that often how running works?
At first, running can feel like freedom. Eventually, you discover you’re not nearly as free as you thought you were.
Through Isaiah, God asks why we spend ourselves pursuing things that cannot satisfy us. Then He gives this invitation:
“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.”
—Isaiah 55:3
What if you actually received everything you’ve been running toward?
The money.
The relationship.
The success.
The recognition.
What if you finally got everything you thought you wanted—and your soul was still empty?
Jesus warned that a person could gain the whole world and still lose what matters most:
his eternal soul.
Going Faster in the Wrong Direction
I know something personally about going the wrong direction and having to turn around.
After the airplane crash that nearly took my life, something changed deeply inside me. I was the only survivor, and during my long recovery I made a spiritual about-face.
I stopped trying to live life on my own terms and began learning what it really meant to follow Jesus.
I share more of that journey in my book Atomic Faith, but here is the point I want you to remember:
Sometimes the most important decision you can make is simply recognizing that you’re going the wrong direction—and turning around.
There’s something else I learned from flying airplanes:
If you’re flying toward the wrong destination, going faster doesn’t help. It makes the problem worse.
You can have a beautiful airplane, plenty of fuel, perfect weather, and powerful engines. You can push the throttles forward and go faster and faster.
But if you’re heading in the wrong direction, increased speed only takes you farther from where you need to be.
Life can work the same way.
We go faster.
Work harder.
Try more things.
Look for another answer.
Yet somewhere inside we know:
I’m going the wrong direction.
“He Came to Himself”
That’s where the prodigal son eventually found himself.
His money disappeared. A famine came. He became hungry. This young man who had grown up in the home of a wealthy father eventually found himself feeding pigs.
Dirty. Hungry. Broken.
Everything he thought would make him happy was gone.
Then Jesus gives us one of my favorite sentences in the entire story:
“And when he came to himself…”
—Luke 15:17
I love those words.
He came to himself.
He woke up.
For perhaps the first time in a long time, he saw his life clearly.
Maybe God is asking you to do the same.
Ask yourself honestly:
What am I doing here?
How did I get this far from God?
When did prayer disappear from my life?
When did something I once knew was wrong become acceptable?
When did I start running?
Here is the good news:
You don’t have to stay where you are.
The prodigal son made a decision:
“I will arise and go to my father.”
—Luke 15:18
Notice what he did not say.
He didn’t say, Someday I’ll go.
He didn’t say, Once I get my life straightened out, I’ll go.
He simply said:
“I will arise.”
There comes a moment when you have to stop running.
Maybe this is your moment.
You don’t have to repair your entire life today. You simply need to become honest before God.
Maybe you’ve never really known Jesus Christ personally. Or perhaps you’ve known Him for years, but somewhere along the road you wandered away.
Either way, you can begin with a simple prayer:
Lord, I’m tired of running.
Show me where I am. Show me what needs to change. And help me turn toward You.
And please remember this:
You may have traveled a long way in the wrong direction, but you are still only one turn away from heading home.
A Professor Named Anatoli
Years ago, shortly after the Iron Curtain came down, my team and I were in Russia delivering Bibles and praying for the Russian people.
For several days, I worked with a wonderful interpreter named Anatoli. He was an atheist and a professor of science at Moscow University.
On our final day together, Anatoli seemed deeply troubled.
I sat beside him and asked what was wrong.
He slowly shook his head. “I don’t know.”
After a few moments I asked, “Anatoli, are you thinking about God and your relationship with Jesus—the One we’ve been talking about all week?”
He nodded.
Then he began to weep.
I explained that the Holy Spirit was drawing him and that he could turn to God right then.
His Christian mother was sitting nearby, overwhelmed with joy.
I took Anatoli’s big hand in mine and led him in a simple prayer of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
I will never forget what happened.
Here was a brilliant university professor discovering that Father God had been waiting for him all along.
Maybe today He is waiting for you.
Is It Time to Turn Around?
Let me leave you with two questions:
What are you running from?
And perhaps more importantly:
Is God asking you to turn around?
Recognizing that you’re running is only the beginning. The prodigal son had to make a decision.
So did Anatoli.
So did I.
And so do you.
You can arise. You can turn around. You can go to the Father.
He loves you and wants a relationship with you through Jesus Christ—either for the first time, or again.
If you’re not absolutely certain that you’re going to Heaven when your life on earth ends, I invite you to visit DaleBlack.org and click BOOK YOUR HEAVEN FLIGHT. Please don’t leave the most important question of your life unanswered.
And in the next blog, “It’s Time to Come Home,” we’ll look at what happened when the prodigal son finally stopped running, turned around, and headed home.
Because what his father did next reveals something absolutely beautiful about the heart of God—
and about how He feels toward you.
Keep looking up. Jesus is coming again—and He’s coming soon!
