Last Christmas, after mentioning to our oldest son, Adam, how fun I thought it would be for the family to attend a show at the Sight and Sound Theater, my family surprised me with tickets. So, on Friday morning, Pat and I loaded the car and left for our weekend getaway in Lancaster, PA. It was a fabulous time with my parents, the kids and our grandson, Mason.
The drive down, however, was a bit tough. It was, after all, Labor Day Weekend and everyone seemed to be traveling to Lancaster. As we approached our journey's end, the slower we seemed to crawl. I love when our GPS alerts us to delays, before we hit them! That is a very nice feature, we finally have on ours, after 30 years of marriage and travel. We've been stuck in quite a few jams over the years. I appreciate that we can program our destination into our GPS and a nice British voice, ever so gently, guides us along the way. Every now and then, when we take a wrong turn or misunderstand the directions she has provided, we hear, “Recalculating” and she quickly adjusts to our blunder and figures out how to get us back on track. We put our faith in her that she is going to get us headed in the right direction again.
I was thinking as Pat drove us down the highway, towards home, back to the days of maps. Remember the day of the folded map when they were our only means of finding our way? Do you recall when we needed to figure out the best route to get us where we wanted to go? There were times just figuring out where we actually were on the map, made me want to scream. When you have a poor sense of direction, reading a map is not very much fun. It can also be a mistake, as I have discovered, to assume the map doesn’t know what the map is talking about. Are we the only ones to decide that the map doesn’t know best and proceeded to take a "short cut"? Pat and I missed the wedding of good friends years ago, for that very reason. We didn’t understand the directions and tried our own route. Epic failure. We arrived just as the bride and groom walked out of the church.
So as we traveled home, I rode along in the car and began to think about maps and do you know what I realized? It has never occurred to me to question the writers of the map. When we loaded into the car, we got the map out and followed it. We never wondered if Rand McNally really had the wisdom we needed to get us to our desired destination, we just followed the map. Our faith and trust had been placed in someone we had never seen, but believed to be an authority on the best way to get from point A to point B.
This made me wonder, if we can place our trust in Rand McNally and follow the instructions placed on a map by someone we have never seen, why is there such a struggle within us to place our trust in God? Why do we struggle with believing the Bible is truth, simply because it was written by men, that we do not know? I may never understand why our GPS, or the writers of a map, want to take me down a certain route, and I may not understand why God desires for me to live a certain way, either. However, in the same way I put my trust and faith in a map to lead me to where I want to go, God wants me to put my trust and faith in Him, that He will lead me to where His plans and purposes for my life are.
What would happen if we allowed God to be our GPS? If we thought of HIm as our "God Positioning System" and His Word as our map. When we make a wrong turn, He simply says, “Recalculating” and ever so gently guides us back to the best route that will take us to our final destination. He adjusts to our blunders and builds our faith each time we find ourselves straying off course. We can use His Word, the Bible, to help us follow the best plan He has for our lives. He has a destination all planned for us and when we follow the instructions in His Word, we will arrive there in better shape than without it. We must remember Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the same way that I am going to place my faith in a system of maps and GPS’ to help me in my travels, I am placing my faith in God’s Word and His promises as I travel through life. Just as we sing in Amazing Grace, I was once lost, but now I am found. Thank you, Jesus.
Oh and may I encourage you if you ever have a chance to get to Lancaster, go see a show at Sight and Sound and spend the weekend enjoying Amish country. You will be blessed.
The drive down, however, was a bit tough. It was, after all, Labor Day Weekend and everyone seemed to be traveling to Lancaster. As we approached our journey's end, the slower we seemed to crawl. I love when our GPS alerts us to delays, before we hit them! That is a very nice feature, we finally have on ours, after 30 years of marriage and travel. We've been stuck in quite a few jams over the years. I appreciate that we can program our destination into our GPS and a nice British voice, ever so gently, guides us along the way. Every now and then, when we take a wrong turn or misunderstand the directions she has provided, we hear, “Recalculating” and she quickly adjusts to our blunder and figures out how to get us back on track. We put our faith in her that she is going to get us headed in the right direction again.
I was thinking as Pat drove us down the highway, towards home, back to the days of maps. Remember the day of the folded map when they were our only means of finding our way? Do you recall when we needed to figure out the best route to get us where we wanted to go? There were times just figuring out where we actually were on the map, made me want to scream. When you have a poor sense of direction, reading a map is not very much fun. It can also be a mistake, as I have discovered, to assume the map doesn’t know what the map is talking about. Are we the only ones to decide that the map doesn’t know best and proceeded to take a "short cut"? Pat and I missed the wedding of good friends years ago, for that very reason. We didn’t understand the directions and tried our own route. Epic failure. We arrived just as the bride and groom walked out of the church.
So as we traveled home, I rode along in the car and began to think about maps and do you know what I realized? It has never occurred to me to question the writers of the map. When we loaded into the car, we got the map out and followed it. We never wondered if Rand McNally really had the wisdom we needed to get us to our desired destination, we just followed the map. Our faith and trust had been placed in someone we had never seen, but believed to be an authority on the best way to get from point A to point B.
This made me wonder, if we can place our trust in Rand McNally and follow the instructions placed on a map by someone we have never seen, why is there such a struggle within us to place our trust in God? Why do we struggle with believing the Bible is truth, simply because it was written by men, that we do not know? I may never understand why our GPS, or the writers of a map, want to take me down a certain route, and I may not understand why God desires for me to live a certain way, either. However, in the same way I put my trust and faith in a map to lead me to where I want to go, God wants me to put my trust and faith in Him, that He will lead me to where His plans and purposes for my life are.
What would happen if we allowed God to be our GPS? If we thought of HIm as our "God Positioning System" and His Word as our map. When we make a wrong turn, He simply says, “Recalculating” and ever so gently guides us back to the best route that will take us to our final destination. He adjusts to our blunders and builds our faith each time we find ourselves straying off course. We can use His Word, the Bible, to help us follow the best plan He has for our lives. He has a destination all planned for us and when we follow the instructions in His Word, we will arrive there in better shape than without it. We must remember Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the same way that I am going to place my faith in a system of maps and GPS’ to help me in my travels, I am placing my faith in God’s Word and His promises as I travel through life. Just as we sing in Amazing Grace, I was once lost, but now I am found. Thank you, Jesus.
Oh and may I encourage you if you ever have a chance to get to Lancaster, go see a show at Sight and Sound and spend the weekend enjoying Amish country. You will be blessed.
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