The End Of The Road

        After living for almost six years with three cars - a 2000 dodge, a 2005 dodge and a 2009 toyota - we decided it was time to finally downsize to two cars.  So we recently traded the two older ones in for a 2015 Rav4.  We had been saving for such a purchase for over ten years and we also bought during Toyota's year-end sales event.
          We have really been enjoying out new vehicle.  It has so many features that we never had before and never expected to have.  I hope that someday soon we will learn how to use all of them correctly.  For me one of the greatest features is the electronic seat control that allows me to set the seat so that I can get in the car easily, despite my back problems.  And by saving our favorite positions, the push of a button sets the seat for us individually before we get in.  That is so nice and helpful.
          However, the one feature that I am not used to yet is the built in GPS.  I may eventually go back to using the old portable one that we have used for years.  The new one really has its own mind.  It will continually attempt to get you back on its main track even when you are miles off its track and on a faster more direct route.  If you obeyed it your trip would end up being longer and more frustrating.
          The second thing about it that bugs me is the fact that every time you are approaching a "T" and need to turn, the GPS voice says you will turn left/right at Sherman St., "at the end of the road".  Now I guess that is helpful information but recently we heard "at the end of the road" so often that I felt like turning the voice off.
          But hearing that expression brought two thoughts to my mind.  First, we never know when an intersection will actually be at the end of the road for us.  My mother was killed when a teenager came through a stop sign and hit my parents broadside.  The way people drive today is alarming.  The Lancaster newspapers recently printed a story sharing statistics about how many local accidents were caused by drivers on drugs, especially heroine.  And so today we never know when a simple auto trip could end at the end of the road.
         But the expression also reminded me of the brevity of life due to things besides auto accidents.  And for the believer, the end of the road promises to be a beautiful place with a new home and life with our Savior and friends who have reached the end of the road before us.  But instead of it being the end of the road it will be a new beginning which will go on for eternity.  What a wonderful destination we have at the end of life's road.
         Now a GPS is a marvelous instrument.  I am constantly amazed how it recognizes where you are, how it knows all the roads and key locations around, how it recalculates so quickly, how it can tell you what the speed limit is and how long until you reach your destination.  But it isn't always completely correct and we do need to be careful how we use it.  And sometimes it can't contact to the satellite and then it is useless.  That happened to us once in Milwaukee traffic and that was an adventure without even a map.
         I wonder if the first GPS might have been the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day that led the Israelites out of Egypt.  They didn't know where they were headed and didn't have maps, but God guided them just as He guides us today ... from where we are, to the end of the road.  And that is even more amazing than a GPS.  And He doesn't make mistakes or stop working.  As we trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not to our own understanding, and we acknowledge Him in all of our ways - He will direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6).  The perfect GPS!