Show Me The Way

Whenever we travel, I'm in charge of getting directions to our destination. I'm a little obsessive about it, really. Recently, I downloaded three sets of directions for our women's trip to this conference! I had to make sure I had directions to the hotel, because we were going there first. Then from the hotel to the church, so we could get to the conference. And then from the church back home, because we were leaving straight from the church. I didn't want to leave anything to chance.

I printed out directions to CJ's camp a couple of weeks ago and put them in my camp folder. I'd ridden to camp once with a friend, but I was much too busy chatting to pay attention. But I wasn't worried because, after all, Y*hoo could give me directions at the click of a mouse. Easy peasy!

So, Sunday morning I picked R up from work and we headed to camp (in the MAN TRUCK, I might add!). I had my trusty directions on the console, so we were set. Or so I thought.

To make a long story short, I'll just say that the kind people at Y*hoo wanted to make sure we saw a lot of the beautiful countryside & a quaint little town that I hadn't seen on my first trip. We made it there, eventually. But it was a crazy trip - definitely the road less traveled. Since I've committed to honor my husband, I will just say that we had some TENSE moments. I think you get the picture.

I'm still not sure how we got there. Needless to say, before we left camp, I asked a friend for her M*pquest directions so we could get home without incident!

R insisted that I should've known better than to get directions from Y*hoo. I disagreed, because I've never had any trouble with their directions. I've been able to trust them to get me where I needed to go.

I've also trusted in people to get me where I need to go. Some of them trustworthy, some not. Some wise, and some not so wise. Some who genuinely had my best interest at heart, and some who most definitely did not.

Even when I've sought Godly counsel, I've sometimes ended up in the wrong place. Or I got there, but through a series of twists and turns that I could have avoided. Because people, no matter how well-intentioned, are fallible. We make mistakes. We interpret the Map according to our world-view. We don't mean to lead people in the wrong direction, but we sometimes do.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -- John 14:6

If we don't want to get lost or take a field trip through the middle of nowhere, we must find The Way for ourselves. Of course, sometimes we need to advice or confirmation. Still, when we seek direction from other sources. no matter how trusted, we've got to make sure those instructions follow the Map. Only then we will be able to plot the course He has for us, and arrive safely at our destination.

Now, if I could just find such reliable directions back to camp!

Because of Jesus,
Melissa