Recalculating…Recalculating

This is my Senior year of college…my expected date of graduation is May 8th. I will graduate with a Bachelors of Science in Sociology from Oklahoma State University. Because of this lofty (or not so lofty) endeavor, I drive to Stillwater two days a week this semester. For those of you who know my driving record you understand what a feat and rather terrifying idea this really is. For those of you who don’t I shall enlighten you.

You see I have no problem with accidents or cops, I go the speed limit. My problem is directions. I am directionally challenged, to say the least. I once drove to Tulsa International airport and took three hours to get home (an approximately 15 minute drive). So on my 21st birthday my father bought me a GPS. His were hopes that I would be cured of getting lost. Well the first day of the semester arrived. To ensure I had plenty of time, I got up at 4 am, left my house at 5 am and got on the road. I had studied the maps, programmed the GPS…I was so ready! I drove to the airport as was planned, went to turn the GPS on, only to find out I had forgotten it. Needless to say it took me and my map, 4 hours to make the 1 ½ hour drive. I ended up taking a detour that I didn’t have to take. Because that was not the road I was to even be on. Thankfully however after being in school for over a month I can drive to Stillwater (and back) without any complications. I have even greatly improved my directional skills, just don’t ask which way is north.

It has been these drives that have taught me some important lessons. One day in a class my teacher was going on about how he was so dependant on his GPS. He had recently taken a trip and said if it hadn’t been for the GPS he wouldn’t have even know what state he was in. He needed it just to tell him where he was and how to get home. He talked about how sad it was to be dependent on his GPS.

On my way home that day I looked at my GPS and began to compare to God in my life. I began to think how good it is to be dependent on God. Without God, I wouldn’t know where am and most importantly I wouldn’t know where to go. Isaiah 1: 5 says Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” I am forever grateful that God, the creator of the universe, took time, to think of me and create a plan for my life. He could have very easily said well ‘I gave you a life, I gave you salvation and healing, that’s good enough!’ Wonderfully enough He didn’t, He gave me a future and a call. He sees the end and is navigating and placing me exactly where I need to be. Esther 4: 14 says. “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Just like Esther had a choice to fulfill the plan of God for her life, I too have the same choice. Jesus is my GPS, and he is leading me and directing where I should go. He tells me in ‘6.2 miles turn left’….’in 4.2 miles turn left’….’in 0.2 miles turn left…’turn left now’. My part is to turn because He is my navigator and can clearly see my destination. When roadblocks or problems come, He simply says ‘recalculating, recalculating’…‘In 3.2 miles turn right’… ‘all is well’.

The beauty of it is He even fixes my mistakes. When I’m the one who messes up and walks away from where I should be. When He leads right and I go left, He gently says ‘recalculating, recalculating’ and gets me back on course. Jesus is my GPS and because of this my life is, and my future will be exceedingly, abundantly above all what I can ask or think.