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I left early for my 10 a.m. meeting in New Orleans. According to the Waze App, I would arrive at 9:45. As I was leaving, my daughter Elise said, “Take Airline. There was just a wreck on the interstate over the Spillway.”

About four miles into the drive on Airline, the app detoured me to River Road. Typically, I love driving on River Road, and I was happy I had left early, given these detours. After a few winding miles, I was directed back to interstate. I was back on track until I was advised to leave the interstate and travel down Veterans.

Traffic ahead didn’t look any different than usual, but too many times of ignoring the app before fueled my decision to exit. Information on the navigation system was better than my field of vision.

I quit trying to guess the route I would eventually take and began to wonder when I’d arrive at the meeting. This was not my plan, nor my timetable.

Road construction on Airline wasn’t even a surprise at this point. I steered around it and sooner than expected, was guided back to the interstate where it was smooth sailing ahead.

I arrived at the meeting at 10. Exactly on time. Despite the unexpected journey, the twists and turns, the delays, and the unusual route, I never missed a second of the meeting.

It was as though God was giving me a visual for Proverbs 16:9, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

The bends in the road, the unexpected delays, and the detours are all because God sees things I can’t. His timing is different than mine. He’s not always early, but never late. He’s sometimes last minute, but always on time.

 

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.