Penny

This weekend, Laura and I went away. 

It was the first time that we’ve been away from the kids for more than one night. 

And yes...we do know that it’s kinda pathetic that our idea of a “getaway” is an intensive job interview weekend. 

My mom flew down to watch the kids. 

Because it’s been a while since she’s had them to herself (and since Elijah is going through the terrible threes) we devised a covert code with our neighbors so we could keep tabs on how things were going.  We often borrow things from each other, and so we used a basic color system. 

If my mom told us that they borrowed something green like, say, broccoli, it was “code green” and we would know that everything was OK. 

If they borrowed some bananas, we would know that things were “iffy” but otherwise OK. 

Tomatoes?  That was getting into “Lord Of The Flies” territory. 

Of course this was the weekend that they borrowed the black and blue shop vac. 

After our frantic phone call, they reassured us that using the shop vac was code for “messy van” and nothing more. 

So, knowing that things were copacetic on the home front, we relaxed and enjoyed our time in North Carolina. 

While we were there, we had some time to explore the area with the aid of our guide “Penny”. 

Penny is what we called the Tom Tom™ brand GPS that our host lent us. 

We called her that because the GPS’s voice mode was set on “British female”. 

She said things like, “take the next right and proceed onto the motorway” and, “turn right in 300 yards” and, “silly American, the pound is stronger than the dollar”. 

She also couldn’t seem to find any Starbucks but could easily find the quickest route to the local gourmet teashop. 

Go figure. 

So, Penny directed us around town. 

But we weren’t so sure about Penny. 

Sometimes she would take us through the winding back roads as a “short cut” instead of keeping to the main streets. 

While I’m sure that she was just trying to take the quickest route, it made us very skeptical. 

Was she, perhaps, going to get us lost just to get even for the Revolutionary War? 

We didn’t know. 

But we had no choice but to follow her commands.

Even when they seemed crazy. 

And thankfully we discovered that, despite her mildly sinister politeness, she was a very reliable guide.

Even when we had our bearings and deviated from her course, she faithfully persisted to speak directions that would bring us back to where we were supposed to go. 

And I thought about Exodus.

In The Bible, God was always leading His people.

The most familiar example of this is the Exodus story. 

God freed His people from slavery and then led them in the wilderness for forty years.

He gave very specific directions but when Israel deviated from His course, He was always faithful to lead them back. 

He continually spoke, guiding His people, quite literally, to His destination. 

And that is amazingly encouraging to me right now. 

As Laura and I seek God’s directions in this new season, we rest in the knowledge that, even if it seems crazy, He is a worthy and faithful guide. 

We can trust where He leads, even if it takes unexpected turns. 

And, unlike Penny, He will always persist in speaking.

Penny has a power button we can use to shut her up.

God does not.