READ: MATTHEW 7:13-14; JOHN 10:7-10

Spelunking. The official yet admittedly odd term for cave-exploring. Fun to say, but not so fun when your spelunking gets you hopelessly lost in a complex cave system where the darkness is absolute and you doubt you’ll ever see the light of day again.

Which is exactly the point I’m at right now—hopeless and lost. Every tunnel I try spits me out in the same place again. My map of the cave system might as well be a map of Budapest for all the good it’s doing me. I must have stumbled into an unmapped part of the cave. Unknown territory.

I wonder what will run out first—my food, water, or headlamp batteries. I hope it’s not the batteries. If I’m going to die, I don’t want it to be in the dark.

The hours go by. I open my last bottle of water and take a tiny sip. My headlamp dims, and my heart skips a beat.

Suddenly, a soft glow fills the cavern. I whip my head around and see that words have appeared on the limestone wall behind me. They glow orange like lava. I stare at them, wondering if dehydration has already set in and I’m hallucinating. They say, Choose the narrow path.

The words jolt a memory—one I haven’t thought about in years. I’m sitting in church with my grandmother, her perfume wafting down the pew like incense as the pastor reads from the Bible. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”

The words gleam on the wall for a few seconds before fading away, but the memory continues to stab at my heart. What would my grandmother say if she’d lived to see the mess I’ve made of my life? She wanted me to choose the narrow path. She wanted me to choose Jesus, but I chose myself instead.

I look at the tunnels leading out of the cavern I’m stuck in. Dead ends, all of them. I sink to my knees. “Jesus,” I pray, “I don’t have much time left. I want to choose the right path before it’s too late.”

As my head hangs near the ground, I notice a rock jutting out from the base of the limestone at a funny angle. I move closer, then gasp. Behind it is a large crack in the wall—perhaps just big enough for me to squeeze through. This is it—the narrow path. My only hope. I suck in my breath and climb into the opening. After what seems like hours of pulling myself along with jagged rocks scraping my face and arms, a bright warmth floods my vision. Instead of cold stone, my hands fall upon dew-soaked mountain grass, and I crawl into the light of a glorious spring day. • Courtney Lasater

• Have you ever felt like the spelunker in today’s allegorical story—like the path you’d chosen in life got you stuck at a dead end? What made you choose that path in the first place? What made you rethink it later?

• In today’s Bible passages, Jesus says He is the gate that leads to life. He died and rose again to save us from the destruction of sin and death and give us eternal life with Him. Why do you think He calls the path that leads to life “narrow”?

• Even when we’ve really messed up, Jesus is always reaching out to us with love and mercy. He longs for us to trust and rely on Him to forgive and help us—even when we get ourselves into trouble. Consider taking some time to talk to Jesus, confessing any sins that come to mind, resting in His mercy, and asking Him to help you move forward in following Him. (If you want to dig deeper, read Exodus 34:6; Psalms 9:10; 18:19; Acts 17:27; Luke 19:10; 23:34; 15:1-32)

[Jesus said,] “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13 (NIV)