God and GPS

So, I have a terrible, TERRIBLE sense of direction.  As long as nothing has moved or changed (like, the cow I use as a landmark is still standing there), or if I have detailed from-the-driveway directions written out (and do not have to deviate for construction or like, to get gas) we are FINE.

Anything else?

See you next month.

So as much as we adored our time in Philadelphia...I spent a good portion of time unintentionally sight-seeing.  One way streets, busy intersections, new city?  There was NO hope.

After finding myself in a questionable (which for me, takes a lot to be deemed such) part of town, totally clueless as to where we were or how to get where we were going, with only useless (now that I was off-route) MapQuest directions in hand and 2 little girls in the back seat...yeah.  I was SO tired of being LOST!

Note: countless people have tried to help me with this problem, and I'm telling you, I'm 30..it's too late.

Other Note:  I know there are 3 dozen awesome Map App things out there...but we have a 1990's flip phone when we are stateside, so... no go.

Three phone calls with Adam later, I got home, gave Lee the girls, and Adam and I headed for Radio Shack, where I bought this thingy that tells you how to get places, EVEN if you don't listen to it correctly, and get even more lost.  It still helps you.

A GPS.  Which I have no idea what that even means.  Guidance Please for Stacey.

As I gratefully tried the thing out yesterday on our 600 mile road trip all over the place with several stops along the way, we three started marveling about how that boxy British woman worked...and before I knew it, Lily had it nailed.

"So, the lady box is kind of like God!  Right?"

Excuse our corny, but IT IS.  Here's how...

--If the satellite was mounted on a pole, even high above the city, it would only be able to see me and see where I am going within that city.  The GPS works because it is talking to some satellite in outer SPACE...which can therefore find my car, see where I am, see my final location, and tell me how to get there.  While it's also doing the same thing for a million other people!

If God were only as big as my little corner of things (like I sometimes think He is!), only as big as my perception of things, He could NEVER see the whole intricate plan for my life...much less for anyone else's!  It's because He truly has the whole world in His hands, in His sight, in His heart, that He can intimately be with me, see the plans He has for me, past, present and future, AND be with Matt...with Haiti...with the World.

And even better than GPS?  He cares.

Worried that God may not have your best at heart, or might not know what He is doing?  He knows exactly where you have been, exactly where you are, and exactly where He wants you to be...and is with us to help us on the journey.  He is above all and IN all...He can be trusted!

--The stinking box frustrated me to no end yesterday because it would only tell me the NEXT step.  I wanted to know the next 10 steps, just to make sure I didn't mess up, and so that I would know what was coming next, but no.  One command at a time, and usually only a moment before it was time for me to obey that command.

Sound familiar?  I can't tell you how many times I have wanted God to give me the next 5 plans, because Plan 1 sounds a little risky...a little crazy...a little insecure.  If I could only know what Plan B, Plan 7, Plan Backup were, NOW, so I could head off confidently instead of having to trust!  But just as I learned yesterday that that GPS WAS reliable, and COULD be trusted, how many times have we seen that God is to be trusted!?  That He knows the final destination and WILL get us there...but doesn't usually give us the whole map up front!

Better than GPS?  Our trust honors and blesses Him and grows us... and He already KNOWS about all construction ahead, needs no charging, has no trouble "finding the satellite"!  Until we are obedient with the step He's laying out before us, the following step probably isn't going to come.

Not sure where in the world your life is going?  Never thought where you are right now is where you would be?  Find yourself hesitant to take that step of faith?  While we don't know the roads ahead, He DOES, and can be trusted.

--Having the GPS yesterday did NOT mean that I was on the right road the whole time.  Especially until I got the hang of how it worked, I deviated from what it told me to do several times accidentally.  So while I quickly learned  that the box wouldn't MAKE my car stay on route, I also quickly learned that even when I got off route, I wasn't lost.  It was still there, and while the "re-routing" obviously wasn't the BEST route, nor the fastest, I still got home.

God having a plan for our life does not always mean that we are ON that plan.  I can honestly say that God has never FORCED me to stay on the road He laid out for me.  Never.  Never made me love Him or obey Him or do what was right.  But I CAN say He never abandoned me...and even in painful times that "re-routing" has obviously not been as beautiful or easy as His best route for me would have been, because of His faithfulness and grace, I have never been LOST since I found Him.

Praise the Lord!

Know you're off route?  Some choices or circumstances have you feeling lost?  Cling to Him...LISTEN to His voice.  Persevere.  He has not abandoned you, and He knows how to get you back on track.

--The only main difference I could think of on our long drive yesterday between my walk with God and my new walk with this GPS was this.  I put in my final destination with the GPS.  I decide where I want to go and tell it, and it gets me there.

Oftentimes, my life looks like this is how I want it to work with God and I.  I've got a great place I want to be...a great dream of what this is going to look like.  So, I tell God that and jump in my car, waiting for Him to get me there tout suite! 

Take a minute with me today and give God back our destination, trusting Him and seeking none but Him.  Ultimately, I want to want HIM.  Not a goal, not a place, not a destination.  What a blessing for me yesterday to remember that HE is God, that I want HIS plan for my life, whatever that is, and to deliberately put the control back in His hands, with joy!

He is ALL about the journey.  Trusting Him with it, today.