Oh this is going to be so bad, but I can't help it. On the way home from Atlanta, I had child-free access to the radio. It was heavenly. I was in the car for 6 hours in a 20 hour period. I loved it. I had coffee and could listen to what ever I wanted to. I think I could drive across the country that way. Or at least up Route 66. I have always wanted to do that. And I could digress in my mind all I wanted to. That's not gonna work here, so I really must focus.
So during this driving, I found a really cool guy who gave a talk that rocked me to the core. I'll blog about that later. So after listening to that, I thought I would give some other sermons a chance. What I found mostly were stupid stories, dumb jokes and illustrations that made me vacillate between rolling my eyes and saying out loud, "Are you kidding me?" I became even more thankful for the man of God who brings the Word to my church body each week. And he serves that Word steaming hot. Boy... Anyway,
This is totally going to read like one of those inane illustrations, but I really can't help it.
I was thrilled, and I mean beyond thrilled, to get to go see David Crowder in Atlanta. Or the
A. T. L. as the kids call it these days. Our month had been so busy that aside from thinking about how excited I was, I didn't have a lot of time to plan for the trip. Thankfully Jackie had her brains about her and mailed me my ticket and some directions. The morning that I was supposed to leave, Mom asked me if I knew where I was going. I told her that I had absolutely no idea. If you have met me for even a second, my OCD mad planning skills may have presented themselves. So it was quite unusual, to say the very least, that I had not planned this trip down to the millisecond.
I packed in about 2 minutes, threw everything in the car and went to get gas. At the gas station I typed the address into my trusty phone and off I went. I even had to remember how to get to I20, if that tells you how seldom I travel outside my county. Panic set in as I got good and on the interstate. I had NO idea where I was going. And I was going to Atlanta, or the ATL as we'll now call it, so we can be "with it." I have been lost in the great ATL several time, luckily with a car full of girls. Now I was alone, and barrelling down the interstate towards the great unknown.
Now the good thing was that I had my phone. You type in the address of your destination, which I had thanks only to Jackie, and then it shows you a map with your route highlighted. The directions are even broken down into a step by step route and most comforting was a blinking blue dot that is YOU. So you always know where you are and where you are going.
I'd love to say I was easy breezy after getting this info typed into my phone, but once I hit Six Flags, I got really nervous. The ATL is full of interstates, and most have about 6 lanes and everyone does 90. I was a nervous wreck. I clutched my phone, no music on and talked to myself incessantly. It was comical, to be sure. Thanks to my phone, I arrived at the church safely right on time.
I was paranoid about my phone the whole time I was there, and we laughed about it some. I was terrified of losing that thing. How would I get home without it? I was relying totally on it, and nothing else. I even wondered how people traveled before GPS. They were stuck with ill folding maps, I guess. Oh the horrors. No wonder I stayed lost in Atlanta all those years ago.
On the way home, I typed in my address and off I went. I was good, except it was raining cats and dogs. I got my coffee, turned the windshield wipers on high and clutched my phone. I kept thinking I would get to the interstate soon, but after an hour, I realized I wasn't anywhere near an interstate. I was on a two lane road in the middle of nowhere. I had no choice except to trust my phone, but I really didn't want to. I thought my phone and I were both lost. I kept driving, becoming more and more uneasy, but I plodded on, through the pouring rain.
Finally, in literally a split second, I saw out of the corner of my eye one of those little signs that said, "I-20 this way." I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. I still thought surely there could have been a better way to go, since I had been driving FOREVER. In the rain. On a two lane road. And I needed a nice, clean, safe restroom. (Large coffee, remember...) Finally, there it was, I-20. I was home free.
I found my rest stop, and I was so blessed to see that the average age of the guests at the rest stop was 90. I love old people. I wanted to stop and find out where each of them were going. Or coming from. As I was almost skipping out of the rest area, a truck driver coming up the walk and I exchanged pleasantries. He added over his shoulder as he walked off, "Be careful out there. I can't tell you how many people I've seen run off the road this morning..." My confidence imploded all over my good mood. I slunk back behind the wheel and sat there for a second, fighting some panic that was creeping back in. I took a deep breath and started the car, trying to put out of my head what the nice man had said. Breathe in, breathe out... I was vunerable again, and alone on the road. Except now danger lurked.
I was headed straight for church and I started thinking the best way to get there. I was going over all the possibilities when I saw this ginormous store that sits right by the interstate. Right by that store was a back road that led to church. I had gone that way with my sister over a year ago, but I couldn't really remember exactly how to get to the church. I pulled over at a gas station, typed in the church's address and was there in 10 minutes. Shaved 45 minutes off my commute. Awesome. I was home safely.
So why did I type all that out, other than so you can be impressed with my ability to type in addresses to a GPS and follow directions?
It hit me, as I drove along so carefully following my directions, and here is where is gets really bad, that I didn't treat God's Word like I treated my GPS. The only way to get where I'm going is to follow God's Word, clinging to it, devouring it, meditating on it and begging God for wisdom from it.
I rely on everything else to get me through life-my own limited knowledge, opinions and advice from others, books, people who know more than me (and there's tons of those) and just about everything else in life. What God was asking me is when I'm going to get as desperate for His Word as I was for my phone in a strange place? My phone was the only thing that kept me found and safe. Hello? Cheesy illustration time. Draw all the parallels so we can get this over with.
Just as I was doubting my phone's ability to guide, I doubt God's Word. It doesn't apply, there aren't enough answers, blah, blah, whatever. Just as I glimpsed that tiny sign reassuring me that I was going the right way, God is asking me to turn those things I rely on more than His Word into those tiny, tangible, reassuring signs and still keep my focus on Him.
I read last night about how much of the Bible people read in a day. One guy read 15 chapters a day, fully reading the Bible once a quarter. Oh that got me. I'm studying my way through the Bible, but I don't just pick it up and read it like a book. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so convicted?
Eh, it was revolutionary, and I don't think I'm fully getting across here how deep it was. Maybe that's what happened to all those preachers. It all got lost in the translation.
So during this driving, I found a really cool guy who gave a talk that rocked me to the core. I'll blog about that later. So after listening to that, I thought I would give some other sermons a chance. What I found mostly were stupid stories, dumb jokes and illustrations that made me vacillate between rolling my eyes and saying out loud, "Are you kidding me?" I became even more thankful for the man of God who brings the Word to my church body each week. And he serves that Word steaming hot. Boy... Anyway,
This is totally going to read like one of those inane illustrations, but I really can't help it.
I was thrilled, and I mean beyond thrilled, to get to go see David Crowder in Atlanta. Or the
A. T. L. as the kids call it these days. Our month had been so busy that aside from thinking about how excited I was, I didn't have a lot of time to plan for the trip. Thankfully Jackie had her brains about her and mailed me my ticket and some directions. The morning that I was supposed to leave, Mom asked me if I knew where I was going. I told her that I had absolutely no idea. If you have met me for even a second, my OCD mad planning skills may have presented themselves. So it was quite unusual, to say the very least, that I had not planned this trip down to the millisecond.
I packed in about 2 minutes, threw everything in the car and went to get gas. At the gas station I typed the address into my trusty phone and off I went. I even had to remember how to get to I20, if that tells you how seldom I travel outside my county. Panic set in as I got good and on the interstate. I had NO idea where I was going. And I was going to Atlanta, or the ATL as we'll now call it, so we can be "with it." I have been lost in the great ATL several time, luckily with a car full of girls. Now I was alone, and barrelling down the interstate towards the great unknown.
Now the good thing was that I had my phone. You type in the address of your destination, which I had thanks only to Jackie, and then it shows you a map with your route highlighted. The directions are even broken down into a step by step route and most comforting was a blinking blue dot that is YOU. So you always know where you are and where you are going.
I'd love to say I was easy breezy after getting this info typed into my phone, but once I hit Six Flags, I got really nervous. The ATL is full of interstates, and most have about 6 lanes and everyone does 90. I was a nervous wreck. I clutched my phone, no music on and talked to myself incessantly. It was comical, to be sure. Thanks to my phone, I arrived at the church safely right on time.
I was paranoid about my phone the whole time I was there, and we laughed about it some. I was terrified of losing that thing. How would I get home without it? I was relying totally on it, and nothing else. I even wondered how people traveled before GPS. They were stuck with ill folding maps, I guess. Oh the horrors. No wonder I stayed lost in Atlanta all those years ago.
On the way home, I typed in my address and off I went. I was good, except it was raining cats and dogs. I got my coffee, turned the windshield wipers on high and clutched my phone. I kept thinking I would get to the interstate soon, but after an hour, I realized I wasn't anywhere near an interstate. I was on a two lane road in the middle of nowhere. I had no choice except to trust my phone, but I really didn't want to. I thought my phone and I were both lost. I kept driving, becoming more and more uneasy, but I plodded on, through the pouring rain.
Finally, in literally a split second, I saw out of the corner of my eye one of those little signs that said, "I-20 this way." I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. I still thought surely there could have been a better way to go, since I had been driving FOREVER. In the rain. On a two lane road. And I needed a nice, clean, safe restroom. (Large coffee, remember...) Finally, there it was, I-20. I was home free.
I found my rest stop, and I was so blessed to see that the average age of the guests at the rest stop was 90. I love old people. I wanted to stop and find out where each of them were going. Or coming from. As I was almost skipping out of the rest area, a truck driver coming up the walk and I exchanged pleasantries. He added over his shoulder as he walked off, "Be careful out there. I can't tell you how many people I've seen run off the road this morning..." My confidence imploded all over my good mood. I slunk back behind the wheel and sat there for a second, fighting some panic that was creeping back in. I took a deep breath and started the car, trying to put out of my head what the nice man had said. Breathe in, breathe out... I was vunerable again, and alone on the road. Except now danger lurked.
I was headed straight for church and I started thinking the best way to get there. I was going over all the possibilities when I saw this ginormous store that sits right by the interstate. Right by that store was a back road that led to church. I had gone that way with my sister over a year ago, but I couldn't really remember exactly how to get to the church. I pulled over at a gas station, typed in the church's address and was there in 10 minutes. Shaved 45 minutes off my commute. Awesome. I was home safely.
So why did I type all that out, other than so you can be impressed with my ability to type in addresses to a GPS and follow directions?
It hit me, as I drove along so carefully following my directions, and here is where is gets really bad, that I didn't treat God's Word like I treated my GPS. The only way to get where I'm going is to follow God's Word, clinging to it, devouring it, meditating on it and begging God for wisdom from it.
I rely on everything else to get me through life-my own limited knowledge, opinions and advice from others, books, people who know more than me (and there's tons of those) and just about everything else in life. What God was asking me is when I'm going to get as desperate for His Word as I was for my phone in a strange place? My phone was the only thing that kept me found and safe. Hello? Cheesy illustration time. Draw all the parallels so we can get this over with.
Just as I was doubting my phone's ability to guide, I doubt God's Word. It doesn't apply, there aren't enough answers, blah, blah, whatever. Just as I glimpsed that tiny sign reassuring me that I was going the right way, God is asking me to turn those things I rely on more than His Word into those tiny, tangible, reassuring signs and still keep my focus on Him.
I read last night about how much of the Bible people read in a day. One guy read 15 chapters a day, fully reading the Bible once a quarter. Oh that got me. I'm studying my way through the Bible, but I don't just pick it up and read it like a book. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so convicted?
Eh, it was revolutionary, and I don't think I'm fully getting across here how deep it was. Maybe that's what happened to all those preachers. It all got lost in the translation.
1 comment:
I love your comparison! So true for me too.
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