No More Sneaking Around

March 4, 2025

Chaplain LaVina "Viny" Burns

One thing of interest in our AZ neighborhood was what are called "safe houses "offered for illegal immigrants. We were told there were 4 in our area. No, I have no idea where they are but have been told that up to 40-50 individuals willed be crammed into a home without much to offer them. At night, while in the dark, we would sit outside with our iced tea and semi-watch the activities surrounding us. Our home backed up to one of the subdivisions. Quietly, almost in a creepy manner, people are let out of a van and without any noise, they quietly would make their way to whatever house was assigned to them. They would tiptoe almost behind our rod iron fence all dressed in black. Whether they are to be in the neighborhood or not is not my point here. For them I am sure there is a need to find a hiding place and feel safe.

Unbelievers are similar to those on the run, They are searching for safety from their eternal destination. As they run from situation to situation, they may be hoping to find the help they need to change their life's journey, but everything is a dead end! Quietly they often hear the preaching of the Gospel and realize the message in not saying what they want. It is telling them to repent and turn themselves into Jesus. They often know they need to allow Him to take them by the hand and lead them into the path they need to go, one of repentance! But, feeling desperate and needing to do things by oneself, often encourages the non-believe to choose the wrong pathway. His path is a wide one that appears to offer many choices. I Corinthians 1:18 tells us, "For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power."

The Bible tells of us two pathways that lead to eternity. One is the wide pathway that offers a life of glamour, glitter, false promises, empty choices that leave a person feeling drained and hopeless. The other leads down a narrow pathway that offers 1 person- Jesus Christ and 1 action - sins forgiven! Yet, like the person sneaking through the dark into a life leading nowhere, individuals without Christ are running down the wrong road. Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in the strait gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction; and many there be which go in thereat; Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life and few there are that find it."

We all know individuals, whether family or friends, that need Jesus. They need to stop sneaking around in sin and come into the daylight and meet the Sonliight! I believe if we make a list and lift it up before the Lord daily, we could help these Indvidual's find safety in the arms of Jesus. Their eternity would be secured through the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior! Let's make a goal of introducing others to Jesus and allow Him to change their lives and reward them with life eternal with Him. Oh, to open the gate doors to the narrow path and lead a person down the path to Jesus! How exciting to offer eternity to a loved one! No more sneaking around! Lord Jesus, open the doors for us to share!