Auto Pilot, GPS, and the Road Less Traveled

Have you ever gotten in your car and started on your way to go somewhere and completely missed where you were suppossed to turn because it was different from your normal routine?   I have even said, "I must have been traveling on auto pilot." when this has happened.  There are times that we become so used to our routine, our comfort zone, that even when we try to change it up, we tend to still travel on auto pilot.

I was blown away last night and this morning, (I went to church 2 times this week), when the pastor said, "The path that you are on determines your destination."  Duh!!!  This is so simple yet so profound.  I, myself have been guilty of relying on good intentions.  I have made lists, joined webistes, visualized a positive outcome, and even prayed.  (Right now, I am mainly thinking about the weight and health issues in my life.)  

The reality is no matter what you punch into the GPS if you don't turn right when it says turn right and just go on auto pilot you will not reach your desired destination.  However, the great thing about GPS is, when you don't turn when it tells you to, it recalibrates. 

When I was younger and would go camping with my dad, he would always get up early each morning and take a walk.  I would sometimes go with him.  As we were walking through the woods we would usually take a path that was there from the many other people who had walked the same way.  That path or trail  made it easier to walk through the woods. 

Once I got on one of these paths not knowing that is was a bazillion miles long, and I would be walking forever.  I did not check the sign at the beginning of the path to see where I would end up.  That kind of lends itself to the "How did I get here?" theory.  We have to pay attention in life.  Just because I didn't read the sign it didn't change the destination of the path. 

Just think, if I had had a cell phone with GPS.  (They didn't have cell phones when I was a child, so it would have had to have been a compass.) It could have recalibrated my course and I could have gotten off of that path.  The trip through the woods may have been difficult beacuse there wasn't a well worn path that had been trampled down by all of those who had gone before me.  And, I may have had to struggle a bit, but I would have been able to reach my desired destination.

God and His word are like a GPS.  He knows the final destination and recalibrates for us when we get off track.  And, sometimes the journey is difficult.  But, all we have to do is turn and follow the path that he has laid out for us and we will end up where we should.  I am just thankful that it is never too late to recalibrate.

Toby Mac: Get Back Up

We lose our way,

We get back up again

Never too late to get back up again,

One day, you gonna shine again,

You may be knocked down but not out forever,

Lose our way, we get back up again,

So get up, get up