It was late at night a couple years ago, and Cathy and I were driving
back from a visit to an off-shore island on the East Coast. We were far away but hoped to make it home
rather than have to spend the night somewhere.
We had crossed over a large sound and were on the mainland, driving
through some heavily wooded and swampy area, heading directly westward. Almost no other cars were on the road. It was a sparsely crowded area. We just drove and drove. I looked at the GPS and the map. I had realized we would eventually intersect
with a smaller highway, not an interstate but an old highway that would go
south winding its way through countless little towns. It would be heading south, the right direction,
and it would save an hour or two of driving to get to the nearest interstate
heading south.
Cathy and I talked about the merits of turning onto the smaller
highway. She wasn’t sure it was a good
idea, but I thought it a good way that might save time and would get us heading
in the right direction. We discussed it
and drove along. Eventually we
approached the intersection where we would have to turn off to get onto that highway. We decided to go ahead and take the small
highway. So at the proper exit Cathy
turned right up the exit ramp and followed the signs that eventually led to
going south on the smaller highway. So
now we drove along, quiet and peaceful that we had made the turn and were on
the way south.
Time passed uneventfully. Maybe
a half hour. Nothing of note and nothing
of interest. It was very dark. Then I saw a sign. It mentioned a small city and said sixty
miles. I saw it. And then suddenly realized …why that
city? We are going south on the small
highway. That city was much further west
on the original route! Why was that sign
even there? I looked up at the compass
on the car. WEST! It said we were going west! But we had exited the original route and had
turned south onto the smaller highway.
We had been driving many miles since.
I checked again. I checked the
GPS. I saw more signs. We were indeed heading west. We were on the original road! We were still driving on the original road we
had been on before turning off, and we were going west, now much nearer the big
interstate.
Cathy and I were quiet. You
could hear our breath. Finally one of us
made the obvious observation. “I guess
God did not want us to go on that smaller highway.” For whatever reason we may never know, he did
not want us there. We continued on to
the interstate, took it, and eventually got home.
God had not let us turn off to the smaller highway. We got home safely. Would we have had a problem, an accident, run
into something dangerous, if we had driven on the smaller southbound highway? Maybe.
Something for sure. But
physically, even though we had turned off on the exit and had driven onto the
small highway going south, we were not on it.
God did not let it happen.
Another miracle.
Years before at a
meeting at a university someone praying over me had prophesied miracles would
follow me always and that I would not even see them unless I looked back. That’s pretty much the way it has been. Sometimes the wonders and miracles are clear
and understood. Sometimes, as in the
case of this journey home, I just realize God had better plans for us and he
made sure we didn’t get on the wrong route.
He does things like that. How? Who knows?
He is God.
Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin
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Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!
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