Welcome to Tennessee

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Three weeks after getting my drivers license, tragedy struck a friend of mine. Well, to be perfectly honest, appendicitis struck…but to a sixteen year old, it was an e-m-e-r-g-e-n-c-y! I remember rushing to the hospital as if my friend had thirty minutes to live. Not really understanding what appendicitis was at the time, it might as well have been brain surgery.

There I was, fresh off a learner’s permit and not really understanding my surroundings. For those of you who know me, my sense of direction is embarrassingly bad. Even though I had lived in the area my whole life, and the hospital was no more than fifteen minutes from my house, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was headed.

The travel time began to concern me as my commute approached one hour. “Perhaps I missed it a couple miles back”, I thought. Then, there it was: Welcome to Tennessee!

I had practically driven across state lines in an attempt to get to a hospital fifteen minutes away. I was going so fast, and so distracted with my own objective, that I missed all the signs. I had no idea that I had completely missed the entire destination until it was no longer an option.

Psalm 48:14
“For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.” - NIV

Do we recognize our surroundings? Do we know exactly where we are? Or, have we wandered so far past our home that nothing is recognizable? There are many times in life when our humanity leads us astray. We set our eyes on the destination, take off in a hurry, and then just find ourselves…lost.

Fortunately, as believers, we have a spiritual compass. Our Spirit warns us in times of misdirection. Our Spirit guards us against bad choices and wrong turns. Our Spirit gives us the assurance that no matter how off course we find ourselves, our destination is never out of reach.

Let your Spirit guide you and it will always point due North.