"What He ordains for us each moment is what is most holy, best, and most divine for us." Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Monday, June 2, 2008

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.

8 comments:

He gave me running said...

TOO FUNNY! What a great blog... God is soo in control and yet we choose to drive anyway. I picture one of those student driver cars with two steering wheels. Just when we need it he will snatch the wheel and bring us back.

By the way ya'll, don't EVER use mapquest. I truly believe satan owns that website. It has left me staring at trees at the dead end road...

Anonymous said...

Nancy, I really enjoyed your blog about the GPS. A modified version of it is likely to appear in a sermon at Cochran & Longstreet UMCs soon.

How did you like "The Screwtape Letters," and do you have any thoughts on that book?

A Cup Bearer said...

What a blessing to hear from you, cochranpastor! I really liked The Screwtape Letters and recommend it to all. C.S. Lewis had an incredible mind. How he could think like he did to write this book is beyond me. The book certainly help to open my eyes to some of the tactics of the enemy.

LittleGirl said...

I would have said "stupid"

Robert said...

You'll need the thing to get to Kennesaw. Well yall may not, but Kristin and I would be lost without one.

OnMyFaceBeforeHim said...

Thank you, Nancy for describing "God's Positioning System." This is exactly what He has done in my wayward and wandering life. I am convinced that without this GPS, constantly saying "Recalculating" and "Start again from here" I would be out there in Satan's wilderness wandering and lost forever. But God in His infinite knowledge and mercy determined that somehow He would get me back where I belonged. I am here now and thankful everyday for "GPS."

Kristin said...

so....last week on our way to New Orleans we had two gps units going because one was being a little stuborn...you see...when we got close to New Orleans I-10 was closed and it made us take a detour....the GPS was nice at first, saying "recalculating route"...it then proceeded to take us to a ferry boat to cross over to NOLA (what they call New Orleans, Louisiana)...did I mention the GPS took us through a deserted oil refinery to get to this ferry boat...but none the less, we followed it because it told us to...but you see we came in much later than we were suppose to...which was probably why the oil refinery was deserted...and the ferry ramp was barracaded and closed for the night...so then came the exciting part of backing up the bus with the trailer on it down the ferry ramp....the GPS unit was then "recalculating" well we managed to tick off our GPS unit...as every thirty seconds it would say "please take a uturn" it was not happy with us that we did not get on the ferry boat...so we turned on the other gps and called TEAMeffort to get directions....about the time of Brett trying to hear the directions from the TEAMeffort lady the GPS unit spoke I promise it sounded like a very harsh, angry, loud, "please make a uturn" i lost it in hysterics and proceeded to spray my sip (it was lots more than a sip) of water all over the driver and my window...not to mention brett sitting on the floor with two gps units and on the cell phone...and about 3 kids that were sitting around me....moral of the story....don't drink water while operating gps units... :-)

A Cup Bearer said...

In response to Kristin: sounds like an (ordinary) moment of baptism. Methodist style, of course.