Years and years ago, after having preliminaries done at a major hospital, the nurse’s instructions for directions to the lab were:  “Go straight down this hall, make a left at the 3rd hall, then go to the 2nd or 3rd door on the left, I’m not sure which, it may be the 4th door, but anyway you SHOULD see a sign above the door that says ‘Lab.’ They’ll help you there.”
Thus began my trek through the maze of halls and doors of a very large hospital. I carefully followed her directions. Down the hall. Left at 3rd hall. 2nd door. 3rd door. 4th. 5th? “Hmmm.” No lab sign! By now frustration and a little bit of fear aroused.  Everyone rushing! Noise everywhere. “Where’s the lab,” I asked someone in uniform?” She replied that it was back “that way.”
I suppose this elderly, kind doctor could see my frustrations as I searched the top of every door for the lab sign. “You lost, ma’am?” Whew! “Oh how good and how pleasant” it was to hear a kind voice in the midst of my confusion. I told him that I was trying to find the lab. All he said was “follow me, I’ll show you the way.” I explained that I had followed the nurse’s directions. His reply: “Oh, she should have told you to take a right at the 3rd hall, not a left. This is the emergency area.”
“Follow me,” was the command of Jesus as he called His disciples from their secular employment to a life of ministry and evangelism. Following Jesus is not always a walk down Easy Street, Trouble Free Trail, or Happy Hillside. Following Jesus sometimes leads through Wilderness Wanderings and Low Valley Lanes. But you need not be confused, frustrated, or fearful in this noisy world of misguided directions. Jesus will show you the right way, even in the emergency areas of your life. He promised that He would go away, but for the purpose of preparing a place for those who follow Him, and that He would return to take us back with Him. “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know,” were His words to His disciples in John 14:4.
But Thomas … remember Thomas? He is referred to as Doubting Thomas by some for his unbelief that Jesus had appeared to the other disciples after the resurrection. (John 20:25).
So here Thomas blurted out the question that others had in mind but refused to ask.  He admitted that they had no idea where Jesus was going; so how could they know the way? Jesus answered with these words of blessed assurance, “I am the Way … ”
Have you made up your mind to follow Him? If not, why not today? Follow Jesus because He is the way! His way is the only way to eternal life. As a matter of fact, He is the Way Maker. Jesus said that there are many mansions in His Father’s house. I believe that one of them belongs to me. What about you?           “I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus.  I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”  (The youth choir’s favorite song on 3rd Sundays. And guess what? It’s my favorite, too!)

Lodenia Coleman serves as pastor of Campbell Chapel A.M.E. Church, Americus.