Getting There (eventually)

Last night I headed over to the home of one of the teens in our church. All the teens were gathering there for the evening. They were allowing me to crash the party with my video camera. The purpose was to film some Super Bowl party commercial spoofs. I can't wait to see Stara Wars Episode 7.

I headed down the road from my house, lost in thought. I made the first of about three turns to get to his house. Still lost in thought, I noticed that I passed the house of another teen from our church. Still traveling and lost in thought, I began to notice that the scenery did not look like I expected it to. The landmarks were unfamiliar. I came to a stop sign as expected. But it was the wrong intersection. My first thought was, "I didn't know Buffaloe intersected Ten-Ten!" That's when I realized that Buffaloe doesn't do any such thing. While lost in thought, I turned one road too soon. I eventually got to my destination, just not as quickly or directly as I would have liked.

In our faith journeys, we sometimes don't get to where we want to be in the way we planned. There's a negative and a positive side to that. From the positive standpoint, the little detours and unexpected surprises bring a depth of insight or an a-ha that we would not have encountered otherwise. Sort of like getting off the main trail and discovering that hidden waterfall.

Negatively, we can take a detour that never leads us to where we want to be. Remember the family on the west coast that got lost on a logging road and stuck in a snowstorm? The wife and two small children survived in the car. The husband unfortunately did not survive his attempt to go find help. Sometimes we make decisions that either take us out of the journey completely or at least so far in the other direction that it feels like we are out of it completely.

Sometimes those decisions are deliberate. We know the potential outcome, but something inside of us desires what is on the wrong road so much that we are willing to risk it. Sometimes it happens by accident, sort of like driving down the road lost in thought. Whenever and however it happens, there are always signs to warn us to turn back. The author and director of our faith journey has mapped it out pretty well and he wants to keep us on the right road. Those warning signals will be obvious. There will always be a chance to turn around.

While your are journeying, be sure to read all the road signs. Just a thought.