All roads lead where?

Sandy and I celebrated our 29th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. He gave me a trip to Savannah, and I gave him a GPS system for his truck. I figured with all the traveling he does, it might come in handy -- especially if he was trying to find his way out of the woods somewhere.

On that Sunday morning after receiving the gift, the two of us decided to take in an early morning breakfast at My Sister's Cafe before heading to Sunday School and church. So we got in his truck and he turned on the system. It immediately told us which way to go. "How cool," I thought. Of course, we knew how to get where we were going; after all, we frequent this place every Saturday morning we're in town. But then he informed me that it wasn't set for My Sister's but rather my mother's, for when he was playing with it the night before, he put my parent's address in the box. So we were eager to see what happened when we made the right turn to the cafe. I thought surely the woman's voice was going to say, "Wrong way. Turn around NOW!" But, no, she paused a moment, and then said, "Recalculating. Drive .8 miles and turn left." The thing had just refigured our position and was going to take us from our new location to my mother's by a different route. Of course, we threw it off once again when we turned left before the .8 miles into My Sister's parking lot.

After our biscuits and sausage gravy, we headed to the church -- once again in the correct direction of mom and dad's. And again, I thought when we failed to make the right turn as directed, it would say, "You missed it!" But again and again and again, the voice said, "Recalculating," and then would give us the next best possible direction. I kept expecting to hear, "You idiot! Can't you follow directions?" Or even a very frustrated "I give" would not have been surprising. But, no, just, "Recalculating." Of course, we were dying laughing by the time we reached the church, totally convinced that all roads lead to "Mimi's" house.

If you think about it, we all have an internal GPS system. We might call it God's Positioning System. When we were born, our lives were mapped out for us, according to Psalm 139:16. The psalmist says, "You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." And then we go and mess up. We take a wrong turn here. Miss a landmark there. Sometimes it's by mistake; other times it's pure rebellion. And then that voice says, "Recalculating." He does not call us an idiot. He does not say, "You're on your own on this one, buddy." He does not even say how bad we've messed up, for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He just says, "Okay, let's acknowledge you've made a wrong turn, and now let's move from this place and go in this direction."

Wouldn't it be best if we would just carefully obey the voice? Not turning to the right or to the left unless instructed to do so. But that we would hear, "This is the way. Walk ye in it." and then follow that direction. Joshua 1:7 says that to do so, we would find success wherever we go. I praise God that He has chosen not to give up on me, not to forsake me, but to love me enough that He would recalculate my direction and turn me toward home. All roads do lead to Him as long as we're following His voice.