Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Who's Driving This Thing?

We have entered the world of GPS. Amazon had some crazy sale on the Magellan Maestro 4260 and, with our anniversary around the corner (at that time) I decided to purchase one for my "directionally challenged" wife (love you, babe!). This morning I took the new gadget with me to Dallas to try it out.

The unit worked well calculating the fastest route to my destination (knowing where I was going I only disagreed with it once). But then the Dallas traffic kicked in. Since I didn't have the traffic service set up (I think it came with a 3 or 6 month free trial), I had to depart from the suggested route several times. Each time the unit quickly recalculated a route for me. Pretty cool.

However, being alone in the car, I began to reflect on the experience. As my thoughts began to roam a bit (never a good thing for me) I started to wonder what the GPS must be "thinking" about my driving. Stick with me here... From its limited perspective, it laid out the perfect route for me to reach my destination in the shortest amount of time. But, again and again, I changed directions without any seeming sense of purpose. I made course corrections based on circumstances the GPS could not "see". "What is this guy doing?"

Do you think this relates to our view of God at all? Aren't we like the GPS system, laying out the "fastest route" through our lives based on what we can see. Then God, who is driving the whole thing, takes a hard right turn that we didn't see coming. We begin to question what God is doing when we cannot see the circumstances God is guiding us through. Perhaps we need to stop "dinging" at God when we think the turn has been missed and, instead, enjoy the ride. Something to think about...

3 comments:

Centaur said...

Hey Tim,

We don't know each other yet, but my name is Aaron, and I was really touched by what you said.

I'm the son of a pastor (my greatest human mentor), and I am a rising junior at Patrick Henry College in Virginia (I'm actually from Hawaii, but I'm going to school in VA).

I've often thought about how God leads my life and where He is going, but had never thought of my way of thinking as a GPS system which tries to get to Place A, B, or C (wife, money, car, career) in the fastest way possible.

Thanks for what you said; I really appreciate it, :-)

Keep the faith!
May His grace be with you always,

Centaur

Tim Nations said...

Centaur, thanks for the comment! Glad the post connected with you. I'm constantly trying to hurry through life when I think God often wants me to slow down. I'll be forever trying to find that balance. Blessings on your studies at Patrick Henry. By the way, how did you come across the blog?

Centaur said...

Hey Tim!

I currently work as a researcher and blogger for ParentalRights.org, an organization seeking to pass an amendment to the Constitution which would specifically mention the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children in the Constitution. As I was looking through some blogs, I came across yours - and found much encouragement, :-D.

Thanks again!
Have a wonderful day!

Aaron