There’s no place like home.
However, I’ve been fortunate enough to call a few places home- one of which is my parents’ new home in Austin, Texas. Just shy of two years ago, my parents moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to Austin. Since California to Austin is a much quicker flight (and I still have unused airlines credits due to COVID), I have had the pleasure of visiting them more frequently and making myself right at home in their new indwelling.
One of my favorite things to do when visiting my parents is exploring new parts of the city. First, we find delicious restaurants that come highly recommended by the opinionated people of Yelp. Then, after we determine what our rating of the restaurant is (and I do a thorough Yelp review of my own), we explore nearby neighborhoods guessing the home prices, discussing gentrification, and creating random stories about what type of neighborhood it will be ten years from now as people from the Bay Area migrate to Texas in hopes of more land for less money.
On my most recent visits home, our explorations took us on a road trip to Dallas. While we have been to Dallas before, we were staying at a new hotel in a different part of town and needed guidance to get around. As someone who regularly uses GPS systems, I’ve come to rely on them to get me where I need to go. Maybe it’s the millennial (albeit older millennial) in me or maybe it’s the fact that as a young girl, my father would also fuss at me to pay attention to where I was going, but I now pride myself on my sense of direction and the ease in which I can use a GPS, no matter what city I’m in.
My parents, on the other hand, my father, in particular, prefers to have a sense of direction on where he needs to go before he hits the road. It doesn’t really matter if a GPS is available. He wants to have a feel for his journey prior to heading out. As a former trucker driver during a time when phones didn’t serve as navigation systems, he didn’t simply plug in the address on his phone to know where his next destination would be. He had to know the streets, know the neighborhoods, know which freeway exits took him where and how wide the streets would have to be in order for him to make his delivery. Driving for him has always been more calculated and deliberate.
His occupation made him a certified road warrior who can do a three-hour road trip to Dallas practically in his sleep. My mother is his co-navigator and willing partner who is always down to ride. Therefore, as we started on the road home from Dallas, I took my place in the backseat and let my parents do their familiar dance of navigation and direction. I lent my hand at setting up the navigation from my father’s phone which projected onto the car’s navigational system and let them handle the rest.
But after a couple of missed turns, I found myself paying closer attention. We were on a freeway with more traffic than we were in the mood for. The GPS was telling us to go one way while my mother and father wanted to go a familiar way. They were following the signs versus following Siri’s instructions.
In true bossy-millennial-child-who-serves-as-the-family-tech-support, I blurted out “trust the GPS” and instructed my father which way to go based on where the GPS was guiding us. Siri steered us around the traffic and back to the freeway we needed to be on.
As I sat back, feeling a bit smug in my satisfaction in following the GPS- I felt a check in my spirit. It was as if the Holy Spirit whispered, “If you would only trust me as your GPS.”
God knows that when traveling the unknown roads of life, I tend to lean into my father’s driving intuition and prefer the familiar way. The familiar way feels safe, comfortable. I even get a sense of satisfaction when I know the direction I should take. But as we experienced in our road trip, familiarity is not always efficient or the best option. It may take us longer and we could easily hit unexpected traffic or detours when we don’t follow the Holy Spirit’s voice, His prompting, or His opportunities. I don’t want to be like the children of Israel who spent forty years in the wilderness for what should have been an eleven-day journey. I want to obediently follow the Holy Spirit’s direction to get to my destination the right way.
As we drove on the freeway and had a sign telling us one thing while the GPS told us another, both directional choices were accurate, but one was better than the other. When we face similar choices on our roads of life, God will let us choose which way we can take. We just can’t forget that He has also gifted us with our personal GPS, the Holy Spirit, who is waiting and willing to guide us to our destination. He may take us outside our comfort zone or on the unbeaten path. Instead of leaning to our own understanding, we must humble ourselves to God’s direction and willingly take the road He recommends.
The next time you are faced with a new opportunity or a road less traveled, I pray you seek the Holy Spirit for the divine path and let Him be your GPS.
