Life by GPS

Milan Ford


About a year ago, my wife and I decided to purchase a GPS (global positioning system) device for our new m-i-n-i-v-a-n. Sorry for the long pause there. It's just that as a 33-year old urbanite, it's still rather hard for me to believe I actually own a mini-van. Very humbling to say the least.

I was pretty excited about finally owning our own GPS; we had been talking about doing a few road trips with the kids for some time now, and the whole MapQuest thing wasn't getting a bit old.

I mean who in the world still finds enjoyment reading and carrying around a folder full of printed directions everywhere they go?

(there's a message hidden in that statement, but i'll have to tackle that some other day)

We decided to try it out the other day while coming back from church one day. The following are just a few life lessons we both learned along the way. All courtesy of GPS.

1. When turning on the device, a screen immediately popped up and told us that the driver of the vehicle should NEVER try entering any new coordinates into the device while driving.

I assume driving and trying to control the device at the same time is FAR TOO DANGEROUS.

2. When entering in a specific destination, the device gave us the option on whether or not we wanted to travel by AVOIDING any highways, intersections, or U-Turns.

3. We decided to enter the address of a restaurant we had been to several times before. To our surprise, the device took us a totally different route. A SCENIC ROUTE.

But one that was much faster.

4. While traveling, we just couldn't believe this device (controlled by a satellite 12,000 thousands miles in the air), could possibly know MORE THAN US about a community we have lived in for years.

We decided to test it out and turn the opposite way it had told us. Immediately after we turned, the device began RECALCULATING an alternative route that would take us to the destination we entered.

5. Once we arrived, we pulled aside to enter in a new destination, when suddenly, the device shouted out, "LOST SIGNAL." We discovered that our GPS will lose its signal whenever it has not been PROPERLY CHARGED. Considering we took it right out the box, we had to return home on our own.

Once we arrived back home, we realized something. Our GPS and The Holy Spirit have a lot in common. The lessons we learned unveiled the very way God desires to direct our lives every day.

The Holy Spirit is an incredible guide. One that is ready and willing to show us the path we are to follow in order to reach every predetermined destination God has established for us.

In fact, the only difference we discovered between our GPS and The Holy Spirit (besides the obvious difference in manufacturing companies), is that we decided to call our GPS...Anne.

The device talked to us so much along the way...we figured we might as well give it a name!

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