Take Time to Smell the Roses

Yesterday I drove my car for a total of 9 hours. Two hours from our home in Northern Ireland down to Dublin in Southern Ireland. This was followed by a two hour high speed ferry crossing to Wales and then a 7 hour drive across the top of Wales, then a drive down the full length of Wales as far as Cardiff, and then over into England past the city of Bath to Bradford-on-Avon where my brother-in-law Ken and his wife Ann lives.

Driving alone on this long journey my directions were guided by satellite signals beamed from space. The route my satnav took me was through some beautiful parts of Wales, but every few miles I would hit a small town and have to slow down, and then there were the dreaded roundabouts. In the US you do not have too many roundabouts but in the UK they are the preferred means for controlling traffic at road junctions.

There was so many roundabouts and stoppages that I stopped and checked that the settings on my satnav were set for 'fastest route'! The satnav settings were set for the fastest route, but in hindsight if I had looked at a map and used my own judgement, I believe that I would have saved at least a hour on that journey. If I had gone into England much sooner and hit one of the main motorways going south the journey would have been a shorter one.

But thinking back, if I had indeed used a map, I 'might' have got to my destination sooner, but I would have missed out on the lovely scenery, especially a valley I went through in southern Wales. I would have missed 'driving' through the twists and turns in the road. I would have missed the small towns and the people walking through them. Instead I would have gone mile after mile on boring motorways.

Funny how as I go down the road of life I come across junctions, were my decisions on which way to turn, can have major impact on the various destinations I reach in my life. I like most people have found that between these junctions, and destinations the road of life has many twists and turns.

Life is so frantic, I want to get everywhere in the shortest time possible. I usually focus my attention on getting to the destination but the Lord wants me to enjoy the journey with him.

I still believe that satnavs are not to be fully trusted for car journey's but I have one navigator in life, Jesus that knows the road ahead in my life and in your life, a He knows the perfect route for each and every one of us.

He knows the junctions in our lives that have to be negotiated, he knows when we have to slow down, and when we can speed up. He knows the people who we will encounter on this journey of life, and he knows that if we let him drive and if we would only take our eyes of the immediate road ahead, there is beauty and wonder all around us.

Joh 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

How I love to rush ahead following my own direction and plan, under my own steam, while the Lord asks me to walk with Him under His loving care and guidance.

Neh 9:12 Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, And by night with a pillar of fire, To give them light on the road Which they should travel.

Finally ......... a thought for to-day

If you know Jesus, you'll never travel alone