Last weekend we made a quick trip to Maryland so that we could participate in the wedding of a young woman who became very important to us in our five years in that community. We left Thursday afternoon, spent the night in a hotel, arriving on Friday. We left Saturday midway through the reception after the wedding, stayed in another hotel so that we could be back on Sunday in time for the Pig Pickin’. It was a very quick trip, but well worth the effort.

One of the things we encountered in our travels this time around was the closure of route 95 over a 75-mile stretch in South

Carolina, the result of the recent flooding there. They had been working on 18 separate bridges to make repairs and shore them up, finally completing their work yesterday after nearly two week’s of closures. The proscribed detour was to use Routes 20 and 26 going through Columbia. It added quite a bit of travel time and mileage to our trip north. On the way south I decided to try to find a slightly shorter path around 95 without going all the way to Columbia. I managed to find one, thanks to Google maps, although even Google didn’t know about a lot of road closures. We encountered four road closures in our path because of floodwaters and their damage, and traveled on two roads that still had standing water on them. This was ten days after the storms.

I don’t think I have ever encountered that many detours on a single drive before. It was a bit unnerving at one point, as I was unsure that we would find our way through. I worried that we would have to backtrack over 50 miles to get back to the highway and still end up taking the long way around. I managed to wend my way around, and it ultimately saved time over going all the way to Columbia, but it could have easily gone the other way. I kept having to adjust my route each time I found I could not continue to go in the direction I was headed. It was frustrating, to say the least. But, I had no choice but to adjust and find another way.

There are many detours in life. One of the worst things that can happen to us is to find that we can’t go where we set out to go,

at least not by the path we chose. We might encounter issues of health, losing a job, a death, a failure, or any number of things. If we are not able to readjust and find a new path, it can be very difficult for us. Similarly, if someone we love does not take the path we want for them, we find that we must adjust to that as well. Parents who think their kids should end up in one place can often struggle with the reality that their child won’t get there after all. When we cannot readjust to the new trajectory and establish a new hoped-for destination it can put a real strain on us and on our relationships.

I have been married long enough and done enough counseling to know that the young woman I traveled to Maryland to help marry will likely encounter some detours in her life. I know she and her new husband have hopes and dreams and a plan for their future, and I know they won’t realize every single one of them. But, I hope that they remember to adjust and be flexible along the way, and to go wherever life leads them together. For a car trip we rely on our GPS devices nowadays. For the rest of life, it’s helpful to learn to rely on God’s presence. God goes with us everywhere we go. Even if we don’t know where we’re going, God does, and God goes with us. It may not get laid out on a map for us, but it’s still nice to remember that we don’t go it alone.

I know this new husband and wife know this reality as they start their married life together, and I hope they remember it always. Sometimes things in life are straightforward and easy and other times we find ourselves taking the long way around. God’s along for the ride either way.

Tom+

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly; Gran us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.