We needed to transport some twin beds back from Atlanta to our home in middle Tennessee. And that required taking two cars to our nephew's baptism there. We were going to follow each other after my husband got off work...until I decided that I could travel ahead with our three small daughters. The girls and I could get there in time for supper. And of course, they would nap most of the afternoon.
I didn't check the map, because --famous last words: I know where I'm going.
I headed out on Interstate 40. The girls fell promptly asleep. They were still napping when I reached Nashville, so I didn't stop. I merged onto Interstate 65, so proud of how well the trip was going. We would be there in record time. Pride goeth before the fall.
About the time they woke up, I was nearing the Alabama state line. And I realized that I was not where I was supposed to be. When I was feeling so proud in Nashville, I took Interstate 65 when I should have waited until Knoxville for Interstate 75, similar numbers but a huge miscalculation.
I was in uncharted territory. No map. No GPS invented yet. Cell phones were something out of a Jetson's cartoon. I stopped at a little gas station at the next exit. It might as well have been in a foreign country. The proprietor in greasy overalls had a deep almost incomprehensible accent but no map. He pointed down the highway and spit out the word t--wenty.
I veered back on I 65 until Birmingham when I made a big left turn onto Interstate 20 to Atlanta. Time was fleeting, and I realized in the middle of a rain storm that Bill was going to be in Atlanta before me. When I reached the big city, I called Bill's brother from a Waffle House with a pay phone. Stay put, he said. He came to find me, and I followed him. The girls and I arrived less than ten minutes before Bill arrived.
I know where I'm going. I have eaten those words for breakfast, lunch and supper all too many days of my life -- on hikes, on road trips, and the most ordinary of days. One exception was in parenting, when I knew I had no idea what I was doing. O LORD, make it enough. My one hope was 2 Chronicles 20.12 We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.
The truth is that every day is uncharted territory. But not to Him.
What is unknown to us is not unknown to God. Imagine that. God actually knows what He is doing.
"You do not know what you are going to do;
the only thing you know is that
God knows what He is doing.
...God does not tell you
what He is going to do;
He reveals to you
Who He is."
--Oswald Chambers
My Utmost For His Highest
We may not have a road atlas, stand point blank in the unknown, or not grasp where this trail may be going or reveal. Not time to panic, but to trust Him even more. God does not show up. He is already here with us on this adventure..
Call to Me and I will answer you,
and will tell you great and hidden things
that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33. 3
Because the really famous last words are from God Himself: Follow Me.
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