Listening for Directions But Still Enjoying the Journey

This past year I sprung and bought a small GPS unit for my wife to use in our van. She had seen our real estate agent using one while looking for homes in Atlanta and thought it would be life-saving with us once we moved there.

Honestly, I’m not sure how we lived without GPS. Whenever we have somewhere new to go, we punch in the address, and then sit back and relax—trusting that the girl in the box will tell us when and where to turn. Before we know it we’ve arrived—without having to squint to read street signs or worry about getting turned around.

At least that’s the way it is supposed to work. What we are finding, though, is that there are a few times that the GPS fails us. We either punch in the address and blindly follow it to a location that no longer exists, or the destination is so new that our one-year-old mapping software in the GPS doesn’t know about it yet.

It hit me the other day that I need to treat God like a GPS unit, and less like a back seat driver. In fact, I don’t think He is even a ‘co-pilot’ or a chauffeur because He hasn’t taken over the wheel completely. Not only is He interested in where we are going, He is also interested in which route we take during the journey to our destination. I don’t have to worry about maps being outdated or God not knowing where I am supposed to go. I just need to listen.

More times than not, however, I fail to listen. There are other times when I hear His directions and decide that I know a better way to go.

How would it be if you and I spent time on the journey enjoying the company beside us, instead of being so focused on the destination that we miss the here and now? What if we became so caught up in the conversation that our arrival came unexpectedly? I know that, as Christians, “… our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there,” but is there a way to enjoy the journey and still not lose focus on the destination?

Sometimes I think we get into this mindset that we’re in constant communication with the Holy Spirit, negotiating our path, or that we’re sitting idly by while God simply directs us where He wants us to go. In reality, I don’t think either is true.

Perhaps, in more relational terms, it’s like driving somewhere that our friend, who is a passenger, knows, but where we’ve never been. We don’t spend our time pouring over maps, or over-analyzing the journey. We sit back, still in control, and enjoy the conversation. Every once in awhile they speak up and say, “You’re going to want to get into the left lane” or “It’s the third street on the right.” We pay attention, but the focus quickly shifts back to the relationship and conversation.

And before we know it we’ve arrived.