Five years ago this little country girl moved near Philadelphia. I lived there for 20 months. How I didn't wind up dead is just the grace of God.
I have worked in social services for a long time so I thought I was pretty street smart... I'm not. My dear friend and roommate realized this. I remember her telling me, "Never go to West Philly..."
I took her advice seriously and realized she was looking out for me. I had no intentions of ever going to West Philly.
I don't have a good sense of directions... and that is a bit of an understatement. I decided to go for a drive one day when I lived in Philly. Because I get lost so easily, I decided to just drive straight and make no turns. I got on the road and drove east. My friend said to avoid West Philly so I figured I was safe... I was going east.
I drove and drove and drove... I was passing all of these cute little towns that I remember other people talking about. I was really enjoying my Sunday afternoon drive. Soon I came to a point where everything started to look different. In a matter of a few blocks I went from cute little town to bars on the windows. I wasn't in Kansas anymore... There was a guy selling newspapers in the middle of the road. I was at a red light and he was just standing there outside my car window... I rolled my window down and asked him what town I was in... He said I was in WEST PHILLY!... How in the world did I wind up in West Philly? I was driving East!... I called my roommate in a panic, and left a message on her phone of where I was. She heard the message a little later and probably thought, "Well, it was nice knowing you Vic..."
I turned my car around and tried to retrace my steps. I was a little flustered; the entire town had bars on the windows. I was a white girl in the wrong neighborhood. I got home fine that day and I think my roommate was surprised I made it home. I remember other people finding out where I had been that day and they were shocked. Was it really THAT bad? Well, as you can imagine, that was the last time I took a Sunday afternoon drive while I lived near Philly.
The drive I took that day can be a lot like life. You head in a certain direction thinking you are going down a safe road. You are just going about your day when all of a sudden you realize you are not in a good place. If we aren't regularly in God's Word and spending time with Him asking Him to guide us, we can easily wind up in dangerous territories. We act surprised when we find ourselves in these dangerous areas because we thought we were doing okay. How did we get here?
Had I consulted a map I would have realized that in heading east, I was heading towards West Philly. I would have seen the danger ahead of time and been able to avoid it. The Bible is our map of life. It will help us avoid dangerous areas.
If you are discouraged and believe that God is not good or that He has let you down, you have gotten on the wrong road. You are heading in a dangerous direction. Stop, look at your map. Trust Him.
How many trials could we have avoided in life had we just consulted our Map?
I might be terrible with directions, but I have a wonderful Guide. He will show me the way and if I follow Him, I will never get lost again…
I have worked in social services for a long time so I thought I was pretty street smart... I'm not. My dear friend and roommate realized this. I remember her telling me, "Never go to West Philly..."
I took her advice seriously and realized she was looking out for me. I had no intentions of ever going to West Philly.
I don't have a good sense of directions... and that is a bit of an understatement. I decided to go for a drive one day when I lived in Philly. Because I get lost so easily, I decided to just drive straight and make no turns. I got on the road and drove east. My friend said to avoid West Philly so I figured I was safe... I was going east.
I drove and drove and drove... I was passing all of these cute little towns that I remember other people talking about. I was really enjoying my Sunday afternoon drive. Soon I came to a point where everything started to look different. In a matter of a few blocks I went from cute little town to bars on the windows. I wasn't in Kansas anymore... There was a guy selling newspapers in the middle of the road. I was at a red light and he was just standing there outside my car window... I rolled my window down and asked him what town I was in... He said I was in WEST PHILLY!... How in the world did I wind up in West Philly? I was driving East!... I called my roommate in a panic, and left a message on her phone of where I was. She heard the message a little later and probably thought, "Well, it was nice knowing you Vic..."
I turned my car around and tried to retrace my steps. I was a little flustered; the entire town had bars on the windows. I was a white girl in the wrong neighborhood. I got home fine that day and I think my roommate was surprised I made it home. I remember other people finding out where I had been that day and they were shocked. Was it really THAT bad? Well, as you can imagine, that was the last time I took a Sunday afternoon drive while I lived near Philly.
The drive I took that day can be a lot like life. You head in a certain direction thinking you are going down a safe road. You are just going about your day when all of a sudden you realize you are not in a good place. If we aren't regularly in God's Word and spending time with Him asking Him to guide us, we can easily wind up in dangerous territories. We act surprised when we find ourselves in these dangerous areas because we thought we were doing okay. How did we get here?
Had I consulted a map I would have realized that in heading east, I was heading towards West Philly. I would have seen the danger ahead of time and been able to avoid it. The Bible is our map of life. It will help us avoid dangerous areas.
If you are discouraged and believe that God is not good or that He has let you down, you have gotten on the wrong road. You are heading in a dangerous direction. Stop, look at your map. Trust Him.
How many trials could we have avoided in life had we just consulted our Map?
I might be terrible with directions, but I have a wonderful Guide. He will show me the way and if I follow Him, I will never get lost again…
The Lord says, “I will make you wise.
I will show you where to go.
I will guide you and watch over you."
(Psalm 32:8)
2 comments:
I like your blog Vicki,
keep it up!
I've been lost a lot. My most scariest was running out of gas driving my uncle's truck to pick up someone from an airport I'd never been to, I was 16...one hitchhiked scary looking semi truck driver and a payphone later... I find out apparently those kind of trucks have two gas tanks!! Risked my short little life for nothing.
Being lost is scary.
Thank you so much for your encouragement Molly. Thanks for commenting.
Wow, to be lost and go through that at 16... that would be pretty scary.
My favorite lost story of all times though is getting lost in China. I will have to blog about it at some point, if I haven't already...
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