Life is a Highway

Metaphors can be found anywhere in life and although fun to see, they are not always easy to apply or relate to on a personal level. That is until they stop you in your tracks. Until you’re King David and Nathan the Prophet says, “you are that man”. Ouch.

 Driving back from a recent road trip I had one of those moments. Not quite a King David but still a metaphoric moment coming alive.  A couple hundred miles from home I had a sense of where I was and where I needed to be going. I knew I needed to head directly north but my GPS insisted on taking me east around a city and on a toll road to boot. It was mid morning on a Monday and almost no traffic so going miles out of my way made no sense. I kept heading northbound while Tomtom (my GPS) protested loudly from the dashboard. “Exit here!”, “Exit left - toll road”, “Recalculating”, “exit left ahead”. He kept insisting I take a different route. I'd had a bout enough of him! The day before Tomtom left stranded in DC as he couldn’t recognize HOV lanes. According to him we were on unnamed roads and he was freaking out about it.

I started complaining just as loudly about Tomtom. Couldn’t he get it straight? This was simple. Couldn’t he just follow my directions? The way I had programmed him? Why did he want to go his own way? Or if he went my way why did he have to protest it so much? Get with the program Tomtom!

Then came the voice of the Lord.
Lord: “Katie, aren’t you a bit like Tomtom?”
Me: “ouch!”
Lord: "You have given control of your life - I’m driving, but you are still sitting on the dashboard whining. Can’t you trust Me, that I know the direction and destination I have planned for your life?”

Ouch. I am like Tomtom at times. I want the Lord in control of my life - He is driving it. I’ve given Him the wheel but I still freak when He goes off what I think the course should be. I almost never recognize HOV lanes – the bypasses in life saving me from the tangled wrecks and congested areas – until I’m on the other side of them. I complain because they aren’t “normal” and I have to trust Him to tell me when it is safe for me or best for me to get back on the main lanes.

I want to divert to the toll roads and distractions that will ultimately cost me something. Sometimes a lot of something’s.  There are times the Lord wants me to bypass a city, other times He wants me to go through it. Why can’t I trust Him to know the difference? Follow his leading in different seasons. Ultimately we will arrive at our destination even if we take the toll roads – that is His grace in action – but how am I stewarding that grace? Lord forgive me for whining, and thank you that I get to watch the adventure of this life as it unfolds from the dashboard!

Are you whining or enjoying the ride?