While on the subject of questions and answers, the Doubting Disciple confuses himself with direct objects and directions. He can't be faulted, who of us hasn't looked more closely at a map than at the X marking the spot. We are wanderers, vagabonds, pilgrims, we all; trekking is the point, not the destination.

Thomas wanted to know The Way. That's all. Not where he was going, he'd grown used to disappointment; doubters do. He just wanted the roadmap, the path, the breadcrumbs dropped behind a Lord marking the way for His followers. A GPS set for Heaven.

Jesus didn't make things so simple: He said that He alone was The Way.

So I am a doubter I find. I stand with the best of them, begging the question, asking the question, disbelieving the answer--and why shouldn't I? The answer won't print out nicely with roadsigns and mileage markers. The answer is a Man. Or rather, think of it this way: a gate.

"No one comes to the Father, but through me."

So this week I am opening the gate, realizing that the roadmap has failed, the breadcrumbs have been eaten by blackbirds and the GPS has gone haywire. I need Him and Him alone. Not some secret password or society, and not faulty methodologies of repentance and renewal--I need Him.

I need to trust that I'll know how to get there, wherever there is, and that I'll know what there is when I get there. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And when He is my Way, my Truth, and the culmination of my Life is Him, I have a feeling I'll be surprised to finally have found myself There.