Driving Directions

The bottom left hand drawer of my dad's desk is where he kept his direction.  I say this with a smile, because in that drawer are housed numerous maps and atlases of every shape and size.  Often as a young woman I would ask my dad how to find my way from one place to another and out these maps and atlases would come.  We would sit side by side, his work worn hands tracing the paths I could take to my destination.  Many times the conversation would turn to various landmarks that would mark my way, the best place for coffee and pie or some long lost memory of a past trip taken to any of these highways and byways.

Some of my best childhood memories were of days when our large brood packed up in the maxi van, picnic lunch packed in a cooler, no destination in sight-we just drove.  We would eventually find a park or rest stop where mom would unpack the wares from the cooler, let us kids get some energy out running aimlessly at play and then we would load back up and find our way home.  Getting lost became one of my favorite past times.  Finding hidden places that were our versions of a secret garden, places we may or may not ever find again.  Dad would often bring out the maps later to find exactly where we had been.  It may come as a surprise, but I never remember being lost with my dad behind the wheel.

It is comical to me that I never see the lesson I am supposed to write about before it takes shape as I type these very words, but it becomes so obvious as the paragraphs take shape.  It is even more comical how I find the relationship to what God teaches me in these lessons, especially this one.  My daughter and I were watching television one night and as we were watching the channels began to blink "333" over and over without reason.  We had not been able to find the remote earlier so it seemed to be changing on it's own.  My first thought was, "Better look that verse up in my Bible app". 

When I looked it up it led me to Exodus 33:3 that speaks of the land flowing with milk and honey and a piece of the story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt.  Did you know the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years?  Joshua 5:6 NIV says, "The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord . For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.".   In reading this part of the Old Testament in my attempt to read the Bible through, I found myself slapping my hand to my head numerous times upon hearing of yet another instance where the Israelites failed to follow God's direction.  Perhaps they would not have been going around in circles if God could have unfolded a map for the Israelites and shown them with his own hands the highways and byways they needed to travel to make it to their destination.  The world will never know, because the Israelites were a stubborn lot and didn't listen to God's verbal instruction either, thus the forty years of aimless travel.

And this is where I had another forehead smacking moment, and a realization I am not so different from those stubborn Israelites.  I have often thought of my walk with God as one of those build your own ending books I would read as a kid.  You know, make this choice and your ending is on this page, make a different choice and it ends on an entirely different page?  I have travelled a lot of circular paths on the journey I am on with God as my guide.  Sometimes I am sure my guardian angel took up drinking because of me.  But, the cool thing is, no matter how far off the beaten path I get, no matter how many wrong turns I take, God is never lost.  No matter how little gas I have in my engine and how many flat tires I am riding on, God is there to guide me safely back home.  Whatever page I turn, path I take or circle I continue to run in, God places His gentle hand behind me and whispers, "No, Sweetheart.  Go this way, there is good pie and hot coffee, here is your landmark, here is your safe way home.". 

How did my dad know to take those trips and show me those maps to lead me here?  I don't know but I will leave you with two things.  First, we found the remote wrapped in an unfolded blanket by my daughter's foot that was causing those channels to flash "333", coincidence?  Second, I share my dad's favorite verses and a very fitting reason to why he and I and many others choose our path with God by our side.  May you find some direction in Psalms 1:1-6 KJV, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."