Our Perfect GPS

It was dark and very late.  Rain was threatening.  We had 4 very tired children in the back of the car.  We were stopped in a painfully slow-moving line of traffic after circling around the confusing streets of the outskirts of Pittsburgh.  “I’m such a doubter!” My sister in law repeated several times as she rested her hands on the wheel.  I listened not knowing what to say, much less what to do.  Since my sense of direction functions only at a very, how shall I say it? “Primitive” level, I am the worst person to be stuck with when lost in a strange city.

“If I’d just trusted the GPS we could’ve been home a long time ago,” was her anguished realization once we finally found the correct highway after making several turns that were not indicated by the GPS. 

Personally, I don’t have a GPS of any kind.  I survive on directions scribbled on scrap paper and on my husband’s keen sense of location.  But I’ve heard GPS tales from both sides.  I’ve heard them from those who live by it and would not go anywhere without their trusted gadget, as well as from those who intensely dislike it or don’t even know what it is, let alone possess one. 

Even though I don’t own one, I believe it is a useful device, which someday I might actually purchase,-particularly after our ordeal trying to navigate the highly un-maneuverable streets of Pittsburgh by disobeying the recommendations that the computerized voice of the GPS gently but firmly insisted upon-. 

“I think our GPS fiasco is the perfect story for a sermon,” my sister in law said to me the next time I saw her.  “It’s like when we just decide we know better than God and chose to go our own way, get lost, delayed and run around in circles until we decide to tune in back again and finally find our way,” she concluded.  “Amen!” I thought to myself. 

I think she is completely right.  The only difference is that God never fails.  For those who don’t trust the GPS I can tell you God is infinitively better!  There is no comparison, really.  There is no one so lost that Our Lord can not find, “recalculate” and put back on their way.  The problem is, however, that not unlike our little adventure that night trying to get out of Pittsburgh; more often than not we don’t trust our perfect, built-in GPS.  We think we know better.  We take one look at the roads that the Lord lays out for us to follow, we find them too difficult, too scary or too challenging, and we decide we can find our way around them by following other roads that look simpler and nicer. 

Sometimes the roads that He indicates for us are too lonely and we don’t want to walk alone, so we detour to the one “most travelled” because company makes us feel safer.  Some other times the road is just too steep so we take the one that looks leveled because it seems easier.  Yet, other times we take a different road than the one clearly set by our Lord just because we listened to the person next to us in our quest for a quick answer.  All of the time, however, we discover that each an every instance we discard the triptik laid out by our Maker, we end up lost, delayed, frustrated and exhausted.

Lack of trust can really take us through some serious detours in life, we all know that.  The important thing to remember is, however, that regardless of the many times we disregard our Lord’s directives, He is a Faithful Guide and unlike the automated GPS in our cars or phones, He loves us!  His love is real and by His love He drives us back to Him.  Even if sometimes we don’t even know enough to see His way; He sees us as we struggle to find our way in our life’s maze.  He grabs hold of us and He puts us back on track if we recognize that He is, indeed Lord and Controller of our destiny.

We made it home safely that night. My two exhausted sons went straight to bed, for which I praised the Lord!  I also praised God for my sister in law’s caring attitude for our well-being and her perseverance to find the right way in the midst of confusion.  Above all, I praised God for who He is in our lives, the Leading Hand that always brings us back home unharmed,-our Perfect GPS!