Last weekend I was in a vehicle with two of my friends who were using their Global Positioning System (GPS) to guide them to a destination we were all heading to. Early on in this drive, I noticed they were referring to their Tom Tom GPS as “Dumb Dumb” when it started to take them in a different direction as compared to what they thought would be a better and faster route. As they veered off their GPS’s course and took some of the directions into their own hands, not only did we hit some traffic, but we also didn’t see the things on the drive that we might have seen if we have stayed on the path that was given to us. At some point during that drive, this got me to thinking on how I feel that God is a lot like our GPS.
The main point of all GPS systems from the beginning of their creation was always to remove the need to use our own sense of direction and maps usage. Over time, people have found that in using any of them, that the route it sends them on may not always be the most direct or fastest but it indeed always does get them to where they need to go. Unfortunately, people are impatient and many feel today that they don’t like the routes begin given to them by their GPS and instead are taking matters into their own hands by altering some or all of the course it gives them. In doing so, things can happen in that new route that were unforeseen such as bridges or roads that are closed, traffic snarls, missing something beautiful, and more. This is no different to what happens with many of us when we pursue any of our own destinations in life on a route different than the one God may have us on.
Throughout our lives there are many different types of destinations we head to such as schools we might attend, careers we seek, relationships we pursue, houses we buy, children we birth, etc. Imagine if God was meant to be our GPS for all of them and prayer was meant to be the mechanism for plugging in any of those desired destinations. Wouldn’t the route that is given to us always get us to where we need to go, just like our car’s GPS, even if it doesn’t seem like the best or the fastest way? Often many of us will use our free will because of this and like my friends did with that drive the other day, they followed their own path. As a result, traffic was hit and sights were missed because of their choice. This same principle holds true in our impatience in life with any of our destinations. When we use our free will and plot some or all of the way to those destinations, we experience things like leaving those colleges before graduating, jumping from one job to the next or being fired from one of them, relationships end up breaking up, divorces happen, houses go to short sale or bankruptcy, children become unwanted, and worse. What if most, if not all, of those things only occurred because we plotted our own directions to those destinations when we felt the path God gave us wasn’t the best one for us to get there?
For three very long years now, and then some, I have been enduring high levels of chronic pain and have spent much time writing about them in here. At times, I have tried to take a path different than what God has been telling me, and ended up getting more sick along the way. This only elongated the whole process of healing, almost like it feels when one gets stuck in traffic for hours and hours..
For my friends, getting stuck in traffic or missing some sights along the way may not have been that big of a deal when they ventured off their GPS’s course. But on a bigger scale in life, I’ve learned that venturing off any of the routes that God’s GPS provides, only ends up with more pain and despair. I truly don’t need any more of that so I’ve decided that while the route God’s GPS has plotted me to fully heal may not seem the best or the fastest in my brain, it is inevitable that I will get there…I just have to remain patient.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson