Posted in Life Lessons

Have you ever gotten lost? Have you ever gotten behind a tourist on the backroads? (or a slow person in the fast lane for those of you who don't live in Sevier Co.) LOL Have you ever had a morning when you just can't get out of the house? These are unexpected detours.

Ever since our first trip together as newlyweds Tracy and I always seem to get lost, err.. uh... take unexpected detours, whenever we go on vacation. Our recent trip to Isle of Palms was no exception. It was raining so hard when we arrived in Charleston I couldn't see where I was going. (Yes, I just happen to be driving) Throw bumper to bumper traffic in the mix... we were bound to get lost, I mean take an unexpected detour. So, I missed the exit and we drove around for an hour trying to find our way back.

I know what you are thinking. "Why didn't you stop and ask for directions?" I will say that my dh isn't one of those men who are to proud to stop and ask for directions. The only problem is, I find that most people we stop and ask for directions don't even know where they are either! Now I live in a tourist town, and I always take care in giving good directions when someone asks. It is the right thing to do. But the people we ask for directions don't seem to care that this little TN girl has been driving in the car with three kids for hours and she just wants to get to her hotel because if she hears, "are we there, yet?" or "when are we going to be there?" one more time she is going to scream or hurt someone!

As I said, we drove around for an hour, but we finally found our way. (I think it would help a lot if there were better directional signs. Those are a good investment, especially for a tourist area.)

Now, in downtown Charleston there was a lot of construction going on. Especially where they are building a new bridge. So, I am sure you can guess. We were bound to get lost, I mean take an unexpected detour. Luckily, we only drove about 20 minutes before getting back on track. We weren't very far down 26 when traffic came to a standstill. Then a fire truck, several police cars and a couple of ambulances passed us. Turns out there was a really bad wreck that had just happened. I didn't think much about it until I was talking to my mom on the phone a little later. I told her about our unexpected detour, then the wreck. She said, "That is why you got lost."

You protect me from trouble... Psalm 32:7

Wow! I still get goosebumps thinking about it. How many times has there been something that was a threat to us and we didn't even know? Could it be that our frequent unexpected detours are God's way of protecting us?

He knows the way that I take...Job 23:10

Sometimes this is hard to remember. When I am lost, God knows right where I am. Sometimes He leads us on an unexpected detour to protect us. Sometimes He uses these detours as an opportunity to be a witness or a blessing to someone.

So the next time you feel lost (because you took a wrong turn and missed your exit) just remember, God knows the way that you take and He will keep you from trouble!