Revelations from the road

My recent road trip held even more revelations than I'd anticipated in my previous post.  I started my journey with my GPS, but also with printed directions from MapQuest.  Even though I knew the GPS would get me there turn by turn, the ability to see the "big picture" was an extra measure of security for me.

As it turned out, my parents were on a road trip of their own, traveling north as I was, about an hour or so ahead of me.  Not long into my journey my Mom called me to give me her version of the real-time traffic reports.  She strongly suggested that I avoid I-95 at all costs because of extremely heavy holiday traffic.  So, as it turned out, my big picture directions which had me traveling on I-95 for much of the way were suddenly useless.  I had to laugh at the irony of having to rely on my GPS after all.

As I reached the DC area, something unexpected happened.  Even though I was driving east towards Annapolis to avoid I-95, my GPS refused to recalibrate for the new route and for about 30 miles it insisted on telling me to turn at every conceivable exit in order to make my way towards Baltimore to connect with I-95.  While trying to ignore the directions coming from the GPS, I started thinking about the voices of often well-meaning friends and others who try to convince us to go in the direction they think we should be going, even if we know the path that we're supposed to be taking.  While their directions may still get us where we need to go, there may be a better path for us to take.  After all, God can see those obstacles and challenges ahead that we and others can't see.

After I crossed the Bay Bridge and got past the exits to Baltimore, I noticed another interesting pattern.  The GPS stopped talking altogether.  For about 40-50 miles there was complete silence.  At some point I realized that the reason the GPS wasn't giving me directions was because there weren't any.  I was on the road I was supposed to be on, so there was nothing more to say.  At that point I realized there's another reason why God is sometimes silent.  When we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, we simply need to keep at it until God tells us to do otherwise.

I'd say this was a pretty productive trip!