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Getting Directions
October 1 2011
Doska's Corner
by Doska Ross
Synod Executive and Stated Clerk
Don’t get me wrong, but my GPS is my new BFF! That’s “best friend forever” for the Twitter uninitiated. Well, now that I think about it, maybe it won’t be forever my best friend, but at least as long as I’m navigating Southern CA highways and byways, it will probably hold that position.
Many of you don’t feel the need for a GPS and I applaud you for that and look at you in awe! I just decided when I knew I was moving here that if I was going to be trying to find new places on new roads in new towns, I couldn’t do it easily or safely alone. I have always had a love affair with maps, but trying to drive in traffic while figuring out which part of the map I need to be looking at now that I’ve taken the wrong freeway is not my idea of fun. And since my driving is often done at night, that makes map-reading even more challenging. So I got myself a pretty snazzy GPS that has already saved my life a few times, at least. And he even talks to me!
Even if you don’t own a GPS or have one installed in your car, you may be familiar with them—you put in the address you’re heading for and it calculates the shortest route there, then tells you step by step how to get there. Mine actually checks on traffic and re-routes me, or I can choose to take surface streets during the busiest rush hours. I use the male-voiced version so I call my GPS Charlie and talk back to him on a regular basis. If I make a wrong turn Charlie very calmly says, “Recalculating” and gets me out of my mix-up. Once I’ve arrived where I’m going Charlie tells me how many miles I drove, how much gas I used, and how much that gas cost, based on the current $4.00 per gallon or so. This is way more information than I need, but it does help me verify the mileage I get from map-quest or similar searches.
One really nice feature is that Charlie very nicely tells me how to get Home from anyplace I’ve ended up, even if I was there just last week and don’t remember how to find the right freeway. No berating or telling me how stupid I am; no rolling his eyes at my lame-brain memory. Just pointing me in the right direction and assisting me at every junction, so I end up in the correct lane when it’s time to exit.
You can probably figure out by now where I’m going with this, but it really does occur to me that my relationship with God is quite similar to my relationship with Charlie, my GPS. Just think about how God tries to re-direct us when we make a wrong turn, or any number of wrong turns. Or how we know that God isn’t going to yell at us for missing the exit or taking the north instead of the south road; nope, just a simple “Recalculating” and if we’re paying attention, we’re back on track, aiming where we should be.
I could go on and on with the comparisons in this simile— God is like my GPS, or is it my GPS is similar to God? But I’ll let you take it from here. I just know that I am so grateful for both of them being in my life and helping to keep me on the right road. And when I get to the end, I’ll be counting on God to look back over my life with me, show me the cost of my behaviors, offer me immense patience and grace, and then welcome me Home.