Parking Garages and the Israelites

Leaving people you love at an airport is never easy.

Navigating your way out of a tightly-constructed parking garage isn’t easy either.

And when you’re doing this for the very first time all by yourself,

you find yourself incredibly thankful for every new sign up ahead leading you home.

And, oh, how I need signs………………

Life is so much like this garage.

 

Unfamiliar turns.

Dark roads.

Intersections with options……………….

go straight or turn?

Glimmers of hope that lead to dead ends…………….

Or very sharp turns.

Options that take us in dangerous directions if we aren’t paying attention.

Thank goodness for signs.

I’ve missed some along the way.

Stumbled unto roads that led nowhere fast.

Even chosen to walk down some to places I never should have been.

But God is so good.

He never stops adding u-turns or detours.

He’s the God who relentlessly leads us Home no matter how long we make the journey.

And I can sure make the journey long………………….

_____________________________________

I’m not the first person to wander in the wilderness with God right beside me.

The Israelites took forty years to travel about 240 miles.

Just six miles a year.

I sometimes feel just as slow at truly grasping the power of His Presence.

New manna every single day……………….

A cloud to lead them by day………..

Fire to lead them by night,

and they still wanted more.

____________________________________

It’s hard to understand how they could be so ungrateful,

so unaware,

so easily distracted,

so desperate for a god they could see and touch…………

until I look in the mirror.

My journey is no different.

I stumble along, too, missing the signs…………

unaware of His presence.

I hear Him whisper,

Be still, Tammy.

Look up.

I lead beside quiet waters.

Shhhhhhh……………

I’m leading you today.

My signs are everywhere.

In the clouds floating by.

In the leaves softly falling and the breeze blowing.

In the sound of the birds in the trees.

Be still.

And look up.

Keep trusting that every step towards me is one step closer Home.

And even if you only make it six miles every year…………….

never forget I’m right there.

Enjoy the journey……………every twist and every turn.