I love all kinds of maps — world maps, state maps, even those paper travel maps you can never fold back correctly. Maps show you where places are and how far one place is from another. Some maps show you which places are mountainous, which have rolling hills, and which are flat. You can see where rivers begin and end and where lakes, gulfs, and bays are located.
I refer to maps often. Sometimes, when I’m reading a book or doing a Bible study and I’m not sure where a particular place is, I will consult a map. My favorite time to use a map is when traveling with my husband.
Years ago (BC – before computers), I would follow along with my paper road map whenever we traveled. I would fold it just so in order to keep it manageable on my lap. I could follow our progress as we traveled noting how far it was to the next rest area or to our destination. At times, I got us into trouble when I noticed something interesting “just a few miles” off the route. These impromptu detours added extra time to our trip.
You may remember getting Trip Tiks from AAA if you are of a certain age. They were kind of a precursor to GPS. You had an approximately four-by-eight-inch flip chart showing you which route to take on a particular highway. Construction zones and speed traps were highlighted so you could plan accordingly. It was a step up from a plain old road map but if your road trip was long, you would be taking a small library of Trip Tiks with you. I remember that happening when my family drove from Florida to Vermont on vacation during the Bicentennial.
Next came the computer age with Mapquest. You plugged in your destination and printed out pages of detailed information — turn right in five hundred feet, merge onto the highway, then travel twenty-six miles. You get the idea. It didn’t use up as much paper as a Trip Tik but it was almost necessary to have a navigator with you to give you the detailed instructions.
Now we have GPS navigation in our cars or on our smartphones. We enter our destination, press GO and we’re on our way. We can even program our GPS to give us directions in the voice we would like to hear — like the English woman’s voice in my car. We get step-by-step directions on which way to go with a little bit of an advanced warning. If you don’t follow the directions you get the “recalculating” message until you get back on track.
One time my mom and I were driving in Montreal using a navigation system in our rental car. The voice giving directions had a French accent and gave all of the distances in kilometers. We had no clue about distances until she told us to “exit here now”! I’m sure there were some Canadians thinking bad thoughts about the crazy American drivers
I got to thinking. Life is really kind of like our modern navigation systems. Our destination has been programmed. I don’t intend to be morbid, but honestly, we are all traveling toward death. What we don’t know is the when, the where, or the how.
If you have ever traveled somewhere completely unfamiliar, maybe you can relate.
We start in a particular direction and either follow the Holy Spirit, others, or our own desires. Sometimes things go along without any bumps for miles and miles. Sometimes there’s road construction or an accident and we have to detour off the path we were on. We have to trust that this new path is going to get us where we are supposed to be. Sometimes we miss a turn and get a gentle “recalculating” message.
I’ll have to admit, it’s not always easy to trust the new direction. Sometimes I feel sure that the detour in front of me is not the right way to go — that my plan for the journey makes much more sense. I fear the detour is going to take too long or even the opposite, impatient to remain on the path set before me.
After much consideration, I’m thankful life is not like one of those old, hard-to-fold paper road maps. I’m thankful I can’t see the end from the beginning, that I don’t know how long it will take to arrive at my destination, or what hazards and detours will be along the way. I’m very happy to follow the directions laid out in front of me, one step at a time.
How about you? Do you feel like your life is more like following a GPS than a Trip Tik or paper map? Are you content with the step-by-step instructions for your life’s journey? I’d love to know.
Kim Wilbanks 