Ditching my GPS

This is what the Lord says - your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord, your God, 
               who teaches you what is best for you, 
                     who directs you in the way you should go..."
                                                                                                         Isaiah 48:17

    My GPS thinks it knows. It thinks it is so smart.
    It thinks that County Rd C is the world's best way to get to Toledo from our house, although in reality there is a minimum of 42 stop signs on that route.
   
    The GPS thinks it knows... even though it doesn't account for stop signs, it doesn't account for school buses, and it doesn't account for farming equipment.
    Last week I tortured my GPS. I took Highway 24! The inhumanity! The GPS doesn't recognize the new highway. The new highway, however, shortens the drive to Toledo by about 15 minutes. The GPS claims you are driving in a field in the middle of nowhere. The GPS is so freaked out by Highway 24, that it eventually freezes up and shuts itself down, as if to say, "Fine! Don't listen to me! Risk your own neck, but you're not taking me down with you!"

   The only reason this is all funny, is because it's so obvious. Obviously, the GPS does not know best. Obviously it's a machine, that is certainly useful, but sometimes, it just doesn't know.

    We think like that GPS sometimes...oftentimes. We think we know. We travel in one direction, not even imagining that there is another way, a better way. We take the way that sounds good, to the world, to ourselves, but...
                          there is a better way.
  We think we're the best GPS...but God knows. He knows infinitely more than we ever could. He sees the whole picture. He knows what roadblocks we'll encounter along the way. He knows....He actually knows.
    And we don't simply have a God who knows. We have a God who knows us, and cares for us. We have a Redeemer. Who thinks we are more precious than we could even imagine. 
       
    That road may look pretty scary, though. It might have rough patches. It is often uphill, and it is certainly rarely easy. He never promised that. But it will be worth it.

I'm gonna take that risk. I'm gonna travel where He directs. 

I may never see more than one day ahead, I may not see the next turn, but it's so worth it. I promise you, He promises you. It's so much better.

There's a song I love, by Group 1 Crew -----
         "I wanna live dangerous...risk it all for you, Lord. I want you to wake me up, 
           from the life I've known before."

What part of your life could stand to look a bit more "dangerous"?
Where is God calling you to risk it for Him?

I promise you He's faithful. He has the best way.

So if our life looks a little crazy, a bit risky, you know why now.

I ditched my GPS. I'm going with Him. Haiti, here we come.

Free at last...

...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. .                                                                            2 Timothy 1:7

     I have this ridiculous fear of snakes. It's ridiculous. For years, I avoided National Geographic shows for fear of coming eye to screen with a snake. I didn't read reptile and amphibian books to my kids, I avoided nature magazines. I walked the long way around the snake house at the zoo. 
     Then I went to bible study.
     That's what happens when you go to bible study, by the way. Stuff happens. Life changes.
     What would happen if your worst fear was realized? What's the very worst case scenario?
     Hmmmm...venomous snake, painful death. I felt silly. Everyone else had serious fears- husband's leaving, children kidnapped, cancer. No way was I sharing my snake thing. 
     
But here's the crux I learned in the study. So what?  
     Get bit by a venomous snake and die. I'm Christian. Dying has nothing on me. Dying means life. 
     
     So what else you got Devil? Emotional trauma, desertion by all those I love, the loss of everything that matters to me. My God's bigger than that. So, here's the truth I know...my God loves me. I don't want to live in fear. He says I don't have to. I'm tired of it.
     Then, what is the alternative? God's answer... Freedom. 
      I want to live free. I opened my heart a little more to God's plan that day.

     Then I went to a conference and had to share my amazing insight with a group of women (thinking I was so wise and learned). One woman at my table turns to me and says, "A long time ago I stopped praying for God's will in my life. Now I pray, Whatever you want for my life, Lord. It's yours, just take it."

    I was taken a back. Was she serious? I mean, if I prayed that, things would happen. What if I was actually killed for my faith. What if He had a plan for my children I didn't like? If I opened my mouth and prayed that prayer any number of things could happen! (Snakes could be involved. :-)) What if...

    So I did what any normal person would do and I sat on it. I let it ruminate in my heart for a good year. Then one day, I had enough. 
    "What do you want from me, Lord?"  
    I got my answer - "You."
    And I realized, He meant all of me. Not just a piece, not half, not most. He wanted all. So, I did it. I opened my heart. Not just a little. 

     I know it sounds like works righteousness to all you good Lutherans, but it's not. I know it's the Spirit. I know it's the Lord's work in me. But I thank God, He does not stop at the font. He keeps at it....every day.
     I prayed, "Whatever you want, Lord. Whatever." And life is transformed. Life is turned upside down. And as Queen Esther said, "If I parish, I parish."
     There are so very many reasons to be afraid. But God trumps every one. Snakes and all.