OUR TRIP WAS supposed to take fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. But as Kim and I made our way through the back roads surrounding Norris Lake (Tenn.) Monday night, road signs were hard to find.
Our GPS told us to ultimately find Ivy Hollow Road. That sounded easy enough, so I turned on the bright lights and slowed down for every side street. But several times I ended up going straight when evidently a turn was needed. Before long, it seemed like we were out in the middle of nowhere.
Redirecting. Redirecting.
It felt like GPS was insulting me, “You’re lost, you stupid idiot.”
It’s tough enough to be misdirected in the middle of the day, when you can at least see something in the distance, but it is especially frustrating to feel lost once the sun has gone down.
“Kim, do you think we should turn here?”
“I’m not sure.”
Before long, our twenty-minute trip had lasted almost an hour.
Redirecting. Redirecting.
Help!
…
THERE IS A SONG BY Luke Bryan out now called “Most People Are Good.” The song is a reminder that despite what we see and hear in the news every day, there are honest people everywhere who make a positive difference in the world around us.
Teachers boost the confidence of students who struggle to understand. Nurses and doctors offer genuine medical assistance to patients who want to get better. And lawyers and judges work hard to find solutions for those who agonize in the wake of conflict.
They offer a better way.
I think the news anchors should say this, "Millions of day care workers offered selfless care to countless small children today, but there's one from San Jose who really messed up, so we have to talk about it." Or this, "Millions of school boards across this nation worked overtime today to make their school systems better and stronger, but one has a rather odd perspective -- or so some people think. Film at 11."
Redirecting. Redirecting.
No matter what your struggle is, and however impossible it may feel, there is someone who has been uniquely gifted by God to steer you in the right direction and help you through it.
Most people are good.
…
I WAS THUMBING THROUGH some old photographs the other day and I was both humbled and stunned at how blessed I am for the life I have had. There is no way I have deserved all I have been given.
I was raised in a great family, later surrounded by awesome friends who were also my trusted teammates, and then one day when I needed her most — Kim showed up, seemingly from out of nowhere. I look at that freckle-faced 8-year-old who was shy and awkward in so many ways and I think to myself, “How did that kid end up here?”
But almost nothing has happened like I planned it. I have had more than my share of missed turns and misguided moments along the way, giving me my share of days. Those are the times I have felt way out in the middle of nowhere, with the voice inside my head sometimes laughing at me, “Dude, you are so lost.”
But do you know what else is true? A lot of those times when I thought something was the worst thing that could ever happen to me, it turned out to be the best thing for me. Just when I needed it, I was sent a person, an opportunity, or a dose of wisdom that has put me on a different path and a better perspective, and all of a sudden I was pointed in the direction I needed to go.
It is in those times that God re-set my GPS.
Redirecting. Redirecting.
Thanks, I needed that.
Enjoy the journey, my friend. Like Kim and me in the darkness Monday night, you’ll get where you need to go.
(Photo by 'The Road.')