On The Road Again
Are you familiar with the newer cars that have a GPS navigation system in them? For instance, the new Lexus, and most of the old ones, have a system installed in the dash which you tell where you want to go, and it will give you exact directions on how to get there. It speaks out loud giving you the proper direction, the places to avoid, and the best possible route to travel. Should you make a wrong turn or miss an exit, it will instantly re-route you to get you to your destination.
God works in very interesting ways. If you pay close enough attention, you can start to see Him and how He is working in the most random of things. Recently, God used this GPS navigation system to rock my world.
As you know, you are alive and living. You are on the journey of life, traveling down a road, to a final destination. Now you may not have a clue where your headed or know what street you are even on, but you must recognize that your still being alive, forces you on this journey. You can’t stop the car and get off the ride. Everyone is headed somewhere.
As any road tripper knows, on a trip to a destination you are going to pass things that may appear very much alluring and enticing. Should you choose to veer off course and make a stop, it will slow your pursuits of your destination. IT WILL COST YOU. Or if you should miss a turn, pass an exit, or try to take an alternative path, you will notice that time will be lost, and it will take even longer to get to your destination. IT WILL COST YOU. Each and every one of us, can now understand our individual journey, our own individual alluring exits along the way, and our mistakes in wrong turns.
God has really brought to light the understanding of His truths in His word. Full well, now seeing the word picture of being on a life journey, you will start to see the correlation amongst this visual and Gods truth in His Word.
Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
I started to realize that God’s purpose for my life, His path, and His final destination for my life, is exactly the journey and path I need to be on. His way is the best route, the best path to avoid major harmful pitfalls. As I start to travel closer to the destination set out before me, I start to see the path laid out before me. I see my past mistakes and my past pit stops and I start to realize that my way was the long way, the hard way. The amazing thing is that God can use my wrong decisions to continue to guide me, and like the GPS system, when I miss a turn, or pass an exit, He re-routes me. Because of my mistakes, the journey will be a harder and will take a longer time, but the amazing thing is that when I yield to Gods will, He makes my paths straight again. My travels amongst a winding road of ups and downs, turns into the straight and narrow.
Have you ever seen the movie “Big Fish”? Well, not to spoil it for you if you haven’t, but the main character is on a journey as well. On his travels, he encounters all sorts of distractions, to include one major stop along his journey in the small town of Spectra. The town of Spectra is full of people that throw their shoes to the trees, b/c they never plan on leaving, never continuing on their journey to their destination. The main character encounters a famous poet in that small town who has been there for years, and after some conversation learns that this poet has been working on what he calls his masterpiece work. He has been working on since his arrival in Spectra, some 9 or 10 years before. He is much obliged to read what he had so far, which read something like this, “The grass is green, the sky is blue, I love Spectra.” You see he could no longer even see what his original destination was. His entire world was now consumed by the exit he got off at on his life journey.
I think that this story rings true for many of us in our lives. Often times we find ourselves taking a wrong turn, or getting off at an enticing exit, and begin to feel stuck in our wrong choice. We begin to hold mistakes & prior things that happened to us on the journey before at such high regard, that our vision becomes clouded as to where the final destination is. Before long, we remain off course for so long that we start to build houses & hotels which not only provide a false sense of security for ourselves, but allows others to see our off ramp exit and be enticed to stop along their path. What God wants us to learn in this, is that we are not bound by our past mistakes, no longer falling slave to the entrapping of our wrong decisions. We should not be stuck where we got off course, but it is easy to walk away from that off ramp exit and get back on our way. I am reminded that when Christ died for me, He set me free from the chains that I think bind me.
The bible states, “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” It always seems like I am constantly being reminded of my downfalls, wrong turns, & mistakes. But I am reminded, that He has freed us from the bondage of the things that I think is binding me and holding me to a place that I never intended to stop at. Whether it is events that have taken place to me, or just poor choices of my own decisions, I am not stuck on those off ramps. We need to go get back on the road and begin to pursue the destination that God has set before us. Pressing on, forgetting what is behind, and looking onward to what lays ahead. As we trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him with our entire heart, all the while not trusting in our own understanding of the road set out before us, He will make straight our paths. A path that He sets up for us is going to be the best route, the best way around, the only wise choice.
By choosing God’s path over our own, we simply save ourselves from the pain, trouble, and hassles that come along with taking the wrong road rather than the right one.
I hope and trust that this was beneficial to you, as I know it has been to me. And remember, to look for God in all things, even in the GPS in your car. 
NOW GET BACK ON THE ROAD.