I learned a lesson about following yesterday.
Actually, it was about not following.
You see, Gary and I took a long day trip to pick up a new car way east of Sioux Falls. It was a salvage vehicle with low miles and a price too good to pass up. On the way back through Sioux Falls we made a couple of stops to shop and eat, and then we left town. We didn’t go back to the Interstate, deciding to take the route that would get us to Highway 44 instead. The GPS was in the car with Gary and I was following.
We made several turns in town and then we were going down 57th Street. I had gotten a couple of texts about something going on with the praise team on Sunday morning, so I decided it would be a good idea to call about it for a second and clarify what was going on.
As soon as I hung up, I realized that I wasn’t sure if Gary was in front of me and just that quick he called me. “Did you turn behind me?” he asked.
“No, I think I might have missed it,” I answered. “I was on the phone.”
I’ll spare you the gory details of the next several minutes of us trying to figure out where I was and how I was going to get to where he was.
I turned around and went back to a stop light and turned south, but that got me to a residential area that didn’t go through to the south.
I went back to 57th Street and finally found another road to go south on.
Somewhere in all of that driving around, I remember Gary commenting in disbelief: “All you had to do was stay on my bumper and follow me.”
Well, to make a long story a little shorter, I hung up with him and put Platte into my phone and got the directions to come up and guide me to where I had to go. Gary checked in a couple more times to make sure I was on my way, but we figured out that he was at least twenty minutes ahead of me. He could get in the garage, but the house key was, of course, in the car with me.
I finally got home at about midnight and we could put that fiasco behind us and go to bed.
I can’t help but think of how often I mess up in similar ways when I’m supposed to be following God.
Just like driving in the dark, sometimes I can’t see much of anything ahead, but I can see those bright tail lights guiding me along. My only job is to keep my eyes on them and follow.
When I’m following God, I usually can’t see the future very clearly. I’m in the dark, but if I’m paying attention, I can see the next steps God has for me, lighting the way like tail lights in front of me.
If I get distracted by something else, I can lose sight of those steps and waste time and energy getting back on track.
Faithful following will get me where God wants me to be, right on time and without confusion.
I’ll remember that the next time I have to follow my husband anywhere as well.
“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.‘” (Mark 8:34 NIV)
Do you get distracted when you’re following God? How can focusing on God help you to follow more faithfully?