GPS and God

Have you ever been following your GPS on a trip and started thinking “where is the world is this thing taking me?” We check to make sure the destination is in there correctly, we check our settings, we (sometimes) just make a turn or get on a highway because “we know this is the way we are supposed to be going.” Yeah, you see where this is going.

Keri and I traveled to South Carolina yesterday to visit a member of our congregation in the hospital. Going, no problem. I40 to I26, Spartanburg, hospital. Easy. We visited, prayed, stopped and had lunch and I tapped the button that said “home.” We didn’t get on the interstate, which would have been the fastest route. Instead, we took backroad after backroad. Heavily wooded areas, large rich houses, rundown “less rich” houses, horses, and fields. You name it we probably passed it. Cell service, no cell service, we just kept driving. Keri asked the question first, “where is this thing taking us?” It sparked a thought, and I replied, “I’m just gonna treat it like Jesus and see what we can see.”

I thought about that a lot while we rode along listening to music, talking, or listening to Crime Junkies. Thought about it over birthday supper with Keri’s mom (Happy bday, Nanner). I was still thinking about it at 4:30 this morning when I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. And now I am sharing this to get at least one person to think about it. Maybe.

What if … we trusted God as much as we do our GPS?

Think about it. We came into this world and looked around through our childhood and teen years, and then somewhere along the way, we realized where we wanted to go. Pushed in the destination and we started. Look at the conversations we have with our GPS that we too often have with God as well.

“Where are you taking me?” We seldom ever take the route we thought we were going to take. We had things and stops we wanted to see along the way. However, this road doesn’t take me anywhere near that! This has got to be wrong! I looked at the map and this is not the best way.

“This isn’t the way we went last time.” Roads, like life, change. Sometimes there is a better way to where we are going that doesn’t take us along the same spots. We’ve seen those spots. If we travel through life, always going the same way and doing things the same way, what are we missing? Far too often we stick to the same roads, the same turns, and the same scenery because that way always got us there before.

“I think this thing is broken.” Be honest. You’ve thought it. At some point in most of our lives, even for just a second, “I don’t think God knows what He is doing.” Somewhere a little lady just passed out because a Pastor questioned God. Someone, get her some water please. In our infinite wisdom of things we don’t understand (be it in anger, Sadness, or disappointment) we think God doesn’t know what He is doing simply because we don’t understand what He is doing. “My ways as not your ways,” I read that in a book somewhere. Just so we are clear, your Pastor often has questions as much as you do.

“Is this going to take me on a toll road?” We want to get there, but we don’t want to have to pay for anything we don’t have to. While attending classes east of home, I got in contact with a friend from school that I hadn’t seen since graduation. No, you don’t need to know how long ago that was. And no, my grammar and writing skills were probably worse than this. Back to the point. When I went to renew my tag the next year I had a toll fine. I didn’t know I had been on a toll road. I don’t remember any signs, or a place to give anyone any money, so clearly this is someone else’s mistake. I called the toll peeps. Nice lady answered the phone, we talked for a minute, and she started asking questions about what I drove. Do drive this make, this color, these stickers on the back window, and this military tag? Um, yes! It was me. I paid it, and moved on. We want to get to our destination, but we don’t want to pay anything.

I could go on and on. I told you, I thought about this a lot over the last 20 hours or so. And I plan (as long as my fleeting memory will allow) to keep thinking about it. Look around. See what there is to see. See who there is to see. Don’t spend the whole trip fussing about the GPS. The road may be curvy, it may be straight. If it’s straight in Western NC, I hope you’re not in a hurry. Even sitting in traffic, pay attention to the people around you. Smile, wave, make a funny face about the 4 lane parking lot you both are sitting in. Just look around. See where God has you at that exact moment. I have a friend, who has been gone for several years now, who used to pay attention to stuff that was laying next to his car when he was stopped. Bungee cords, tiedown strap, books, who knows what else. Sometimes, if it was a dead stop, he’d open his door and pick them up.

All of this just to say, “pay attention.” Put your phone down and look at the people around you. We are in such a hurry to get to where we are going, we are missing so much. Last thought before I quit dragging this out. Maybe it isn’t you that is lost. Maybe you’ve been put on this route because someone else is.