When the Detour is the Event

Gooey taco sauce, bright red taco sauce, was spilling onto my favorite yellow shirt. Meanwhile, the GPS was supposedly directing me back to the interstate after our fast food lunch stop. It seemed to have gone haywire, directing me straight up a steep, winding mountain, away from the interstate. We always grab lunch to go, and keep driving on long drives. If I am going to be sitting, I'd rather be sitting and moving forward than just gathering dust in a restaurant. I glared and screamed at the GPS.

"Look at that wiggly line ahead! Why is it doing this? We are going to climb a mountain beside the interstate, and then go back down before we get back on!"
I continued to sputter and mutter. It was the second day of long drives on our way back from NY and I was in no mood for a detour.
"We are never getting off at that exit again," I warned Asherel, as though she had known the exit did not have an easy on/easy off.
"Well there's nothing you can do about it now," she said, her voice placating and calm as she tends to be when I spiral into rant mode.

The ascent was steep and very curvy. I could not believe there was not an easier way back onto I81, which was now far below us. If the GPS could've smirked, it would have. I even thought I might have heard it say, "Just trust me." As I fumed, another big blob of red taco sauce fell out of my taco. At that moment, we reached the top of the mountain. There was an overlook sign, so I careened into the small parking lot, smoke tumbling out of my ears. I swept at the red stain on my favorite yellow shirt.
"What are we doing?" asked Asherel.
"We are stopping so I can eat," I said.
Then we looked around.

The overlook was on the top of a thin mountain peak. On either side of us were beautiful green valleys ringed by distant mountains. Forests lined the descent on both sides into the valleys, and boulders ringed the parking areas on either side of the winding road. I opened the car door.
"Oh my, " I said.

I went to the edge of the overlook while munching my taco, and wiping up the blob on my shirt. A hawk circled on thermals rising from the green, sun stained valley. There was a historic marker. This was Draper Valley, the scene of the capture of Mary Draper by Shawnee natives. She had then lived for years among the Shawnee during the settling and expansion of our country westward.
"We read about her!" I cried out to Asherel. We had read a whole novel about that story in our American History studies.
"This is beautiful," I said happily, "I am so glad we came here!"
Asherel laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Well that was an awfully quick change of mood."
"I respond well to beauty," I said, "I had a lousy attitude when we were climbing the mountain."
"Yes you did," she said.
"But now I see why we were detoured. And I am so grateful."

God's message was unmistakable on this one. Sometimes what looks like setbacks, detours, wrong turns, unexpected and undesirable obstacles turns out to be the main event, the destination, the goal we didn't even know we were seeking. Sometimes we are speeding after the wrong purpose and so hell-bent on getting there that we miss heaven along the way. The Bible is replete with such stories, not the least of which is a gruesome death by crucifixion that resulted in abundant eternal life to all those who understood and grasped His sacrifice of Himself for our sin. It seemed like a massive detour to the followers of the Messiah, and for three days they grieved. And then He appeared, and they finally took in the magnificent view of their Salvation.

"That was worth every moment of this tortuous climb," I said, getting back in the car.

Psalm 119: 128-133
and because I consider all your precepts right,
I hate every wrong path. Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them. The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands. Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name. Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.

-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org