When GPS gets it wrong

I am a daily user of my Global Positioning System, or GPS as we all know it. It's one of the greatest navigational tools of our generation. I rarely leave my apartment without first entering in my destination. As a substitute teacher in Savannah, I am frequently headed to an assignment to which I've never been, so getting clear directions is a necessity.

Over a year ago I became a wazer, using the popular community app Waze which allows its members to report a variety of traffic issues in real time.   Waze will give me my ETA; it tells me how fast traffic is moving and will show me alternate routes if I want them.  Ok,  I admit I am a little competitive.  The more you report and drive the more points you get and the higher your rank.  I can always count on two or three vehicles stopped on the side of the road. You can report wrecks, construction, and weather. It even includes the controversial feature of cop sightings.

However, I found out early on that Waze, and GPS for that matter, is not entirely perfect or accurate all the time. While I was living in Laurinburg, NC, I had to drive to Charlotte to see a neurologist. No problem, I thought, because I have GPS, and since I was unfamiliar with the area, I faithfully followed the path set up on my Waze. Dutifully, I got off the highway, going through countryside, up and down hills, winding roads, etc. When I looked at Waze on my phone to be sure I was still going in the right direction, lo and behold, the words plainly visible in red say "No GPS available, searching for networks" and I think I'm screwed.  I panic but keep going and thank God, I finally saw signs to Charlotte and eventually arrived.  After my appointment, I checked directions and GPS gave me a totally different way to go home which ended up being shorter.

To this day, I still do not know why Waze sent me off the highway, but it made me more cautious about following GPS. It occurred to me that each of us were created with our own GPS. It's not a system that tells where on the globe we are, but where we are in relation to God. In my youth, it seemed to be easier staying on the right path. My GPS aligned more easily to Gods plan for my life. The problem with trusting my internal GPS is that it is imperfect and often goes awry.

In the last few years I  "got off the highway" and was driving down some treacherous roads. Unfortunately, others got hurt in the process. I was staring at that painfully vivid message, "no GPS available, searching for networks."  Most of the time, when you find yourself driving around lost, the best thing to do is to stop, get your bearings and look for something familiar. GPS will not take you back to the beginning of your trip. It starts you at your current location.

God does the same. God finds you at your current location and leads you back to the right path. If it were up to my own GPS, perhaps I would still be out there wandering around looking for signs, or perhaps not even bothering to check. But God sought ME, and began to woo me back to Him.  There is only one truly perfect GPS and that is God's Planning System.