“I’m pretty sure that’s a crack house” I told Lauri as our truck arrived at our “destination”. We were supposed to be looking for the Stuart Recreation Area… but that was not the type of recreation that I was anticipating. Two weeks ago the district our church is part of held District Conference in Elkins, WV. While District Conference is usually valuable and encouraging, I have to admit that I was not looking forward to going this year. Elkins, WV is a 5 1/2 hour drive! Since travel costs would be a bit more than usual, our team rented an Airbnb house which saved our church some money.
We were warned in the reviews for the house that it could be a little challenging to locate, but I wasn’t worried. I had the GPS. GPS wouldn’t steer me wrong. GPS knows everywhere and how to get there. But… then… there we were at 10 PM sitting in front of that crack house with our GPS glibly proclaiming, “You have arrived at your destination!” Uh… I hope not… Wow, the house looked a lot different in the pictures.
Well, not to be deterred I re-entered the house location into the GPS and it immediately identified a new destination 5.5 miles away and just outside of town. “Now, that looks right.” I told Lauri. Well, two miles later I was driving up a twisting mountain switchback road that was so narrow the branches from the roadside bushes were brushing the sides of my truck. Lauri said, “I don’t know… this doesn’t feel right.” Well, after 5.5 miles when we saw the sign that said, “Dead End”, I knew she was right! Tell me I just didn’t hear a banjo off in those dark woods. Just turning around was an adventure to cause me nightmares later that night!
So, I slunk back into Elkins and did what no man wants to do… I called the owner and asked for directions. “I can’t find this place”, I said. Well, 15 minutes later, with 10 minutes of that being on a narrow gravel road with a 100 foot drop-off to a river, we finally pulled up in front of our rented house. Phew.
Do you know what I learned… actually what I re-learned… GPS is not infallible. Yes, GPS does work MOST of the time… but from time to time it has let me down, and I have lamented I didn’t keep an old fashioned good ole map in my glovebox.
You know, that errant GPS adventure reminded me of a significant verse in the Bible. David wrote, “Your GPS… (uh, sorry)…WORD is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 “Your word”… God’s word… His holy, inspired, infallible word given so that we can know and understand his purposes for us. Christians can navigate this dark world in confidence because God has given us his word… and his word will never fail us. It will never lead us to a scary house… to a dead end in dark woods… instead it is a lamp to guide us home.
As the old gospel song declared, “This world is not my home. I’m just a passin’ through. If heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do. The angels beckon me, from heaven’s open door and I can’t feel at home in this world any more!” God’s word was given to us so that we can know the truth of the Gospel that salvation is found in Jesus Christ and no one else — to guide us home.
So, a little advice here from someone who has survived the wilds of Elkins, WV… maybe on your next trip take a map along with you… and… also always remember that God has given you a precious gift in his word… use it… trust it… apply it… it will never steer you wrong.
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