Last month road construction started in our neighborhood. Signs went up alerting people that 19 1/2 would be closed, and there are detour signs everywhere.
A few days after that, my pastor used an analogy about being in the left hand turn lane, and realizing you needed to turn right. He compared that to our lives, and how we often find ourselves in the left turn lane when God tells us to go right. The problem was that we were not listening to the signs. Well, I'm a smart girl, so I figured that God might want me to learn something from Bruce's message and from the fact that I now have to go the long way to get to the freeway.
I think that in life we often come upon signs - detours, stops, road closures, yields.... It's like that scene in
Bruce Almighty where he asks God for a sign, and there are tons around him. Do we really pay attention to the signs God gives us? Do you? Do I? The thing is, I don't want to be in the left turn lane when God tells me to turn right.
I don't want to miss something great simply because I refuse to pay attention to God's plan for my life. I don't want to find myself at a dead end, wondering where God is or how I got there. I want to pay attention to those signs, so I can turn when I need to turn. So I can yield when it's time to yield. So I stop when I need to stop. So I go when it's time to go.
So I don't end up here:
Ironically, while I was out taking these pictures someone didn't pay attention to all the signs, and they ended up at this dead end and had to turn around. Thankfully God allows us to turn around and get back on the right track when we find ourselves here, but my prayer is that I listen the first time.
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
