Life by GPS
My wife and I recently decided to purchase a GPS (global positioning system) device for our new m-i-n-i.......van. Sorry for the long pause there. It's just that as a 32-year old urbanite, it's still rather hard for me to believe I actually own a mini-van. Very humbling to say the least.
I must say I was quite excited about finally having our own GPS; we had been talking about doing a few road trips with the kids for some time now, and the whole
MapQuest thing just wasn't going cut it anymore.I mean who in the world still finds enjoyment reading and carrying around a folder full of printed directions everywhere they go?
Wow. I just said something pretty good right there...but will have to try revisiting that some other day.
We decided to try it out the other day while coming back from church one day. The following are just a few life lessons we both learned along the way. All courtesy of GPS.
1. When turning on the device, a screen immediately popped up and told us that the driver of the vehicle should never try entering any new coordinates into the device...while driving.
2. When entering in a specific destination, the device gave us the option on whether or not we wanted to travel by avoiding one of the following: Highways. Intersections. And U-Turns.3. We decided to enter the address of a restaurant we had been to several times before. To our surprise, the device took us a totally different route. A scenic route. But one that was much faster.
4. While traveling, we just couldn't believe this device (controlled by a satellite 12,000 thousands miles in the air), could possibly know more than us about a community we have lived in for years.
We decided to test it out and turn the opposite way it had told us. Immediately after we turned, the device immediately began "recalculating" an alternative route that would take us to the destination we entered.
5. Once we arrived, we pulled aside to enter in a new destination, when suddenly, the device shouted out, "lost signal." We discovered that our GPS will lose its signal whenever it has not been properly charged. Considering we took it right out the box, we had to return home on our own.
Once we arrived back home, we realized something. Our GPS and The Holy Spirit have a lot in common. The lessons we learned unveiled the very way God desires to direct our lives every day.
The Holy Spirit is an incredible guide. One that is ready and willing to show us the path in which we our to follow to reach every predetermined destination God has established for us.
In fact, the only difference we discovered between our GPS and The Holy Spirit (besides the obvious difference in manufacturing companies), is that we decided to call our GPS... Anne.
The device talked to us so much along the way...we figured we might as well give it a name!
Milan Ford is a 12-year leader (and survivor) of college and student ministry within the local church. He serves as Content Editor for Streaming Faith and as the author of "The Pew View" (
1 comment:
Yep, what a great analagy (is it spelled right?) Anyways, how many times have we travelled thinking we know the way and come to find out we are so lost going around in the same circle over and over and over again or better yet completely in the wrong city. Yea, it happened to me once. Would I had gotten directions in the first place I would have gotten to my place of destination without aggrevation and on time.
It works exactly the same way if we don't listen to Holy Spirit. We just love to take the scenic route and I really don't understand why. But thank God that He will recalculate our route once more and will lead us to the place He has destined for us while we were just a twinkle in His eye...even if it takes years and years to get there.
Don't you get tired of doing things your way and just ending up in the wrong place?....I think you should give the Holy Spirit a try. You might find you get to places alot faster. :)
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