Wandering Around

A funny little incident happened this week, as I was taking one of my daughters to meet up with a friend south of town.  I was berating myself for not catching the HOV lane as I had forgotten it was still open that time of morning.  We were slugging through stop and go-slow traffic.  I was trying to make the best of it and use the time to catch up with her.  Things were not improving as fast as I thought they should, when all of a sudden I slammed on the brakes, as we were abruptly cut off by a police car who decided to block our far left lane.  I was the second car behind him and watched as he proceeded to look down the storm drain.  WHAT?!?!  Seriously, was traffic not bad enough, you needed to inspect a drain at this very moment?  Then, he walked down the side of the road, leaving his car and creating all this bunched up traffic.  What was he doing?  Then, it appeared—a duck.  On the side of the freeway, in late morning, rush hour traffic, this duck just waddled on down the side of the road.  The policeman tried to shoo and scare this duck into flying away, but to no avail.  The middle lane opened up and I was able to pass and get on with my trip, but it got me thinking.

Am I like that duck?  Landing in an unfamiliar place, unbeknownst to me, with my life in danger and God is redirecting everything trying to provide an immediate route of escape and I just proceed to wander around.  There have been times in life when things have looked very unfamiliar.  I have not been sure what I was doing there.  I wandered around, checking out my new surroundings, knowing that things just didn’t feel right, but in no hurry to depart.  I felt I was attentive to God and His direction during those times; however, after seeing the duck, I believe I may have been ignoring the His promptings.

I am more in tune with how His Spirit leads these days.  I am grateful for His promises to be with me, to lead me, to direct my steps, and to never leave me.  God has places for me to be, and they are safe, because He chose them.  I want to make sure I am attentive to the shooing from God when I am wandering in an unfamiliar place.  His directing is always in my best interest and for my safety.  God is good and desires great things for me.  If I choose to trust Him, I will be safe.  I can’t tell you what happened to the duck, or the traffic, but being in traffic that day provided an opportunity for me to see how God can be working even when I may just be wandering around.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”  Isaiah 30:21