Monday Musings - Detours

I have been pondering this post ever since my drive down a week ago.  I headed out of Chicago at 6:30 am to journey to Tyler TX.  Under the best of circumstances, it would take about 14 1/2 hours.  When I got to the Missouri/Arkansas border, I could see the Mississippi way out of its banks.  When I crossed over the state line, there was quite a bit of water in the fields along the road and even some sand bags along the edge of the interstate with a little water flowing over the road.  As I got further into Arkansas, everything seemed fine until I got about 50 miles outside of Little Rock.  There were signs that there was a detour.  The signs actually warned you quite a way ahead - but I didn't know any other way to go.  

 

Everyone had to exit off of I40.  I never thought it would be 1 1/2 hours before I reconnected with I40!!  Initially, we seemed to just be going along a random state highway for no good reason.  Can you imagine what it was like for all of the I40 traffic to be routed onto a two lane state highway?  NOT FUN!  It was a sea of 18 wheelers.  

We were then routed onto another state highway and I began to see the reason why we were on such a long detour.  Water everywhere!  It looked like the ocean on both sides of the road.  There was a trailer park that was halfway under water and a few minutes later - there was a camp with their cabins under water up to the roof.  The detour was unplanned, inconvenient and cost me a lot of time.  The detour also kept me safe from a very dangerous and potentially life threatening situation.  

In our spiritual life, we often talk about detours as those times when we choose to wander away from the Lord.  We take a winding path rather than the straight path that we think He has for us.  Those wanderings can get us in some trouble and Lord knows I've taken a few of those.  

But . . . when I was thinking about my detour in Arkansas, it occurred to me that sometimes - those detours are from the Lord.  He knows the dangers that lie ahead if I continue on what seems like the obvious path.  His detours sometimes seem inconvenient - they are certainly unplanned - and they often take what seems like precious time.  We complain, we are puzzled and frustrated - when all along, our Heavenly Father knows that there are flood waters ahead that could sweep us away.  We look around at the 18 wheelers and wonder how this could be right - but indeed it is. 

Jesus loves you and I enough to take us on a journey that was not in our plans.  That journey may not be one that we would choose to go on.  It may not make any sense.  We may be puzzled.  We must trust that the Maker of the detours is faithful to guide us through the twists and turns along the way.

Are you presently on a detour not of your choosing?

Are you obedient even when it doesn't make sense?

Is your faith growing as you take one step at a time?

We make plans that seem logical, smart, rational and sure.  Are we flexible enough to follow the Lord's detours?

Here's to JOY on the journey, fellow travelers.