It's been two weeks, and it seems like forever since I've written. Life goes by so quickly, you know?
Things have been going well lately. I spent Friday afternoon re-cultivating a relationship with a NY State Assemblyman, talking politics, and attempting to position our organization. Slowly, I'm transitioning from Director of Programs to Executive Director. The organization is still in the pangs of rebirth, but we are all encouraged about its future. Times have changed, but the organization, prayerfully, will continue on!
On another note, one of my high school friends is getting married and has aksed me to officiate. I'm so excited!! It's always an honor to participate in life milestones, whether they are birth/christening, death/dying, acceptance of Christ/joining the church, or acknowledging unity of spirit and marrying. It's all part of the cycle of life, and it's that much sweeter -- and more meaningful -- when it can be shared among friends.
So I was in a generally good mood today. Got up, went to water aerobics, and had a conversation with the teacher about the cut (definition) in my legs, kettlebell classes, and TRX workouts. Came home, took some clothes to the cleaners, picked up some books and papers for church tomorrow, and took off to New Jersey to get my car's 11,500 mile checkup done. They changed the oil, but were unable to balance and rotate the tires because the car has rim locks on it, and my wonderful dealer never gave me the key. So if I have a flat, I'm in really bad shape. I'll have to try to get a key from the dealer, then go back to Jersey to let them balance and rotate the tires and do all the rest of the stuff they do in the 11,500 checkup. I also checked on the price of a new side mirror. Seems some vandals tried to pop off the chrome cover of my mirror, but apparently were too stupid to do it right, so they ended up cracking some of the actual casing around the mirror. It will cost me nearly $400.00 to get it repaired from the dealer -- because they cracked the casing, I'll need a new mirror, and since they are power mirrors, they'll have to take it off and yada, yada, yada.... I gotta go find plan B. They even suggested that I go find an aftermarket person to do it. The guy was telling me that he recently had to replace both mirrors on some car -- they were heated mirrors, and ended up costing the person $600.00. Each. $1200.090 to replace two mirrors.
So anyway. I have to get keys to the locks on the rims. So I'll go back when that's done. The place is about a half hour from NYC, but it's nice and friendly and spacious. While sitting in the parking lot, I decided it would be easier to find a Walmart in Jersey than to come to NYC and go up to Yonkers, especially since I never need anything from Walmart; I just go for the immensity of the place. I found a Walmart about 10 minutes away from the place (and in the process saw how close this place was to Newark). I went to Walmart, got my pain relief patches and some crystal light and soda.
Then I told the GPS to take me home. I knew that a mile or so down the road was an entrance to the highway, so I questioned the GPS when it told me to go in the other direction. Still, it was Saturday afternoon, I had no plans for the evening, so I went. It called the NJ pike Rt 80 and I didn't turn on it. I went a little further down the road and turned around, noticing that the map function seems to freeze on the GPS, but the voice direction is clear.
It took me on down the highway. As we were about to get on 95 back to NYC, I noticed the typical Saturday evening into-NYC-gridlock. I've waited in it for over an hour. So when the GPS took me off some other way, I figured I had nothing to lose. Long story short, my GPS has live traffic updates, and ROUTED ME AROUND THE TRAFFIC!!! It was Saturday evening, and I got from Kearny, NJ to my home in NYC in about 20 minutes, including the time it took me to get turned around before getting on the pike. Even though it usually takes me through the Lincoln Tunnel, this time it took me through some little towns in Jersey and then on the approach to the GWB, it had me switch from the lower level to the upper level. It was like the GPS navigated the traffic maze for me!
As I was getting off the highway, grinning from ear to ear, it occurred to me that God is the same way. We may think we know "the way," or we may not understand why God is leading us in a direction that appears contrary to what we think we know. At the end of the day, God's vision is quite different from our vision. God can see the traffic ahead, all those obstacles that we can't yet see. God can take us around that traffic, around those obstacles, if we simply let God. After all, we have free will. We drive the car. It's up to us whether or not we listen to God's Perfect System, or whether we try to go it on our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment