Destiny Drive
Closed
Detour
Normally I only notice what road signs I need to pay attention to as I am usually chatting with my husband and keeping my children from beating each other up in the back seat. But on this rainy, misty Sunday Brian was home nursing a cold and it was just me and my youngest, who was asleep. I began musing over the sign mostly as a way to keep alert. My first thought was who on earth has the job of naming streets in northern Virginia anyway? What do they do, pull them out of a hat? I laughed thinking about the people who would call that street home, telling their friends, "Yeah, we moved to Destiny Drive." "Oh, really? (smirk, smirk)"
But as I pondered further I realized it was an apt metaphor for my Christian walk. There have been more times than I can count where God has slapped a Road Closed or Detour sign right in front of something I though was my destiny. I went to college wanting to be a research biologist - my junior year my advisor left, and I was suddenly without guidance to get practical lab experience - Detour. I was going to start looking for that job in my field right after my summer camp job was done senior year - my mom called the last week of camp saying come home, your father's in the hospital. I stayed home and went into retail instead - Detour. I was pregnant with our first child (living in Pennsylvania) and praying God would send Brian a good paying full time teaching position, and He did - in northern VA - Detour. Three and a half years after that child was born, he was diagnosed with autism - Detour.
Over and over and over again God has reached into my life and abruptly changed the direction I thought I was headed. Some of the changes have brought visible blessings. Brian's job has been wonderful and our son's autism is barely noticeable thanks to the specialized program he has received through our public school. Some of the changes still puzzle me. I never did work in my chosen field. My dad miraculously survived the heart condition that put him in the hospital, but he was never really the same man afterwards, for 12 years, until God took him home.
I finally concluded that "Destiny Drive" is really always closed, once you become a follower of Christ. The world talks about "fulfilling your destiny", or you were "destined" for greatness. But really, it's all God. He's calling the shots, he's pulling the strings. He's given us free will, and a mind to make decisions with, but sometimes He just puts that Road Closed sign up and says "No, you're not going that way - you said you wanted to follow Me, and I'm going this way."
Sometimes when God has sent me on a particularly interesting or difficult detour I think about how C.S. Lewis illustrated it in his book "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." The children have just found out that Aslan (the Christ figure) is a lion, not a man.
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
I pray that the Lord reminds me of that the next time He puts that Detour sign in my path....
Closed
Detour
Normally I only notice what road signs I need to pay attention to as I am usually chatting with my husband and keeping my children from beating each other up in the back seat. But on this rainy, misty Sunday Brian was home nursing a cold and it was just me and my youngest, who was asleep. I began musing over the sign mostly as a way to keep alert. My first thought was who on earth has the job of naming streets in northern Virginia anyway? What do they do, pull them out of a hat? I laughed thinking about the people who would call that street home, telling their friends, "Yeah, we moved to Destiny Drive." "Oh, really? (smirk, smirk)"
But as I pondered further I realized it was an apt metaphor for my Christian walk. There have been more times than I can count where God has slapped a Road Closed or Detour sign right in front of something I though was my destiny. I went to college wanting to be a research biologist - my junior year my advisor left, and I was suddenly without guidance to get practical lab experience - Detour. I was going to start looking for that job in my field right after my summer camp job was done senior year - my mom called the last week of camp saying come home, your father's in the hospital. I stayed home and went into retail instead - Detour. I was pregnant with our first child (living in Pennsylvania) and praying God would send Brian a good paying full time teaching position, and He did - in northern VA - Detour. Three and a half years after that child was born, he was diagnosed with autism - Detour.
Over and over and over again God has reached into my life and abruptly changed the direction I thought I was headed. Some of the changes have brought visible blessings. Brian's job has been wonderful and our son's autism is barely noticeable thanks to the specialized program he has received through our public school. Some of the changes still puzzle me. I never did work in my chosen field. My dad miraculously survived the heart condition that put him in the hospital, but he was never really the same man afterwards, for 12 years, until God took him home.
I finally concluded that "Destiny Drive" is really always closed, once you become a follower of Christ. The world talks about "fulfilling your destiny", or you were "destined" for greatness. But really, it's all God. He's calling the shots, he's pulling the strings. He's given us free will, and a mind to make decisions with, but sometimes He just puts that Road Closed sign up and says "No, you're not going that way - you said you wanted to follow Me, and I'm going this way."
Sometimes when God has sent me on a particularly interesting or difficult detour I think about how C.S. Lewis illustrated it in his book "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." The children have just found out that Aslan (the Christ figure) is a lion, not a man.
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
I pray that the Lord reminds me of that the next time He puts that Detour sign in my path....
2 comments:
hey, I been there, just off Gum Spring Rd. and speaking of Destiny, that's where Jim's lady friend Rebah lives. She and her mom were our neighbors back when the kids were little. Then they moved away and the kids lost touch. They reunited a long time later and ended up going to the prom together. Going to the prom with your childhood sweetheart, now, that's destiny.
I appreciate the 'detours' God has put in your life. For one...we wouldn't know each other, if it hadn't been for a detour sign.
And remember that those detour signs sometimes define who we are not to be.
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