The Lord did not bless me with a keen sense of direction as you will see in the following entry which I wrote on July 13, 2006.
I got lost last week. The problem was, I didn't recognize my lostness immediately. On the second leg of my trek through the Midwest, I ended up forty miles off target as I made my way from St. Louis to Nebraska. Following a Mapquest set of directions, it should have been a breeze but with me, it's never that simple. My early morning journey was complicated when the CHECK ENGINE light showed itself for the first time in my ownership of the Toyota, right after my 4:00 AM departure from my parents' home. (After consulting with Dad, I kept driving. My brother Scott, the mechanic in our family, suggested adding several bottles of fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank. Nine hundred miles later, the light shut off!) Perhaps distracted by uneasiness over the warning light, I took the wrong fork in the interstate in Kansas City. A half hour later, I stopped in a rest area to use the facilities and happened to look at a wall map where they displayed a YOU ARE HERE pin to, well, show the traveler where they are. Imagine my surprise when the pin was two inches to the right of where I was supposed to be on I-29 North. I figured out that State Road 116, several miles north of the rest area, would intersect with I-29 eventually so I put my faith in my limited navigational skills. I found 116. It lead me through beautiful farm land as well as hills and valleys and numerous tiny villages. Finally, close to an hour later, I came back to I-29. There was a slight problem, however. State Road 116, while intersecting the interstate, runs over the top of it with no entrance, a fact not discernible from the rest area map. Tremendously frustrated and angry, I drove on and came to a tiny hamlet where I would ask directions. I kid you not, there was no one in the town- NOBODY! I prayed the Lord would help me find someone and he did- a highway department worker another mile down the two lane blacktop gave me the steps to get back to I-29 North. It was simple. Two turns, three miles, and I was back on the road to the Cornhusker State. The Lord is good!
Have you ever watched that television series, Lost? I have seen bits and pieces, enough to determine it is very confusing if you start your viewing somewhere after the initial episode. I was as lost as the people on the island, which may or may not be deserted. I could figure the show out but that would take effort I'm not willing to expend. If I had made no effort to get back on the right road when I got sidetracked, I might have ended up somewhere in Indiana. In life, we have to determine our condition and then determine to correct it. The Mapquest directions were accurate- the problem was my failure to follow them to conclusion. When I left the map, I got lost. But the map was also the only way back to my desired route. We can be lost physically and we can be lost spiritually. Either way, the map is available to lead us home.
Applicable quote of the day:
"Freedom of speech is of no use to a man who has nothing to say and freedom of worship is of no use to a man who has lost his God."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
I got lost last week. The problem was, I didn't recognize my lostness immediately. On the second leg of my trek through the Midwest, I ended up forty miles off target as I made my way from St. Louis to Nebraska. Following a Mapquest set of directions, it should have been a breeze but with me, it's never that simple. My early morning journey was complicated when the CHECK ENGINE light showed itself for the first time in my ownership of the Toyota, right after my 4:00 AM departure from my parents' home. (After consulting with Dad, I kept driving. My brother Scott, the mechanic in our family, suggested adding several bottles of fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank. Nine hundred miles later, the light shut off!) Perhaps distracted by uneasiness over the warning light, I took the wrong fork in the interstate in Kansas City. A half hour later, I stopped in a rest area to use the facilities and happened to look at a wall map where they displayed a YOU ARE HERE pin to, well, show the traveler where they are. Imagine my surprise when the pin was two inches to the right of where I was supposed to be on I-29 North. I figured out that State Road 116, several miles north of the rest area, would intersect with I-29 eventually so I put my faith in my limited navigational skills. I found 116. It lead me through beautiful farm land as well as hills and valleys and numerous tiny villages. Finally, close to an hour later, I came back to I-29. There was a slight problem, however. State Road 116, while intersecting the interstate, runs over the top of it with no entrance, a fact not discernible from the rest area map. Tremendously frustrated and angry, I drove on and came to a tiny hamlet where I would ask directions. I kid you not, there was no one in the town- NOBODY! I prayed the Lord would help me find someone and he did- a highway department worker another mile down the two lane blacktop gave me the steps to get back to I-29 North. It was simple. Two turns, three miles, and I was back on the road to the Cornhusker State. The Lord is good!
Have you ever watched that television series, Lost? I have seen bits and pieces, enough to determine it is very confusing if you start your viewing somewhere after the initial episode. I was as lost as the people on the island, which may or may not be deserted. I could figure the show out but that would take effort I'm not willing to expend. If I had made no effort to get back on the right road when I got sidetracked, I might have ended up somewhere in Indiana. In life, we have to determine our condition and then determine to correct it. The Mapquest directions were accurate- the problem was my failure to follow them to conclusion. When I left the map, I got lost. But the map was also the only way back to my desired route. We can be lost physically and we can be lost spiritually. Either way, the map is available to lead us home.
Applicable quote of the day:
"Freedom of speech is of no use to a man who has nothing to say and freedom of worship is of no use to a man who has lost his God."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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