Missed the exit
I’m sure many of you have had the experience of driving while following a GPS, missing your turn, and being redirected to go another way. It could be for several reasons. Maybe you weren’t paying attention. Maybe the person in the next lane wouldn’t let you in. Maybe your GPS glitched. Whatever the case may be, you miss your turn or exit, your triangle goes away from the blue line, and your GPS thinks about a new path while displaying, “rerouting.” It’s not the end of the world. You may add several minutes to your trip, but you’ll get to your destination eventually.
Life can feel this way at times. You’re moving along just fine, and, for whatever reason, you appear to be off path because you missed your turn, or your moment, or your opportunity, or simply your required obedience. It feels like you’ve gone off route and, while you feel certain you’ll get where you are supposed to – where God would have you – your life seems to have taken a bit of a detour.
This can look like many different circumstances. It could be a sudden death of a loved one. It could be a sudden job loss. It could be a personal health crisis. It could be a falling out with a close friend or family member. It could be some sin with significant consequences. Whatever the reason, the path you were on, and the one you were travelling quite comfortably, is no longer following the blue line, as it were, and you’re waiting for the GPS to reroute you and tell you how to get where you’re going.
My journey
I have had one or two significant moments such as this in my life thus far. Personally, I feel like my life is currently in one such circumstance. I trust God, and I know He has a plan and purpose for me, but I’m not too sure what that is, and I’m not too sure where it’s going. Allow me to elaborate.
God allowed me to plant a church in Kingston in 2015 when I was 31 years old. We had two children at that point, and we were planning on having more. I thought I would spend the rest of my life ministering in Kingston, and that I would give my church at least 40 years of my life in faithful preaching, teaching, and shepherding. In the midst of this, I was also given an opportunity to work with Liberty Coalition Canada, and I was grateful for the position. I knew my time at LCC wouldn’t last forever, and considering my desire to pastor our church until I died, I was okay with that.
Then, through a series of circumstances, COVID, and many people leaving our church (not for bad reasons, but to get out of Ontario during the height of the lockdowns and mandates), our church decided we would merge with a church north of the city, and I would stay on as a lay elder, and the pastor of this other church would stay on in a teaching role. Quite the detour.
Then, my wife and I perceived that the Lord was leading us to another city in Ontario, where my children could attend a Classical Christian School, where we would dig deep for the rest of our lives, and where I could continue my work with LCC. I was then offered a position to teach at that Classical School, still leaning into LCC as my primary work and source of income. Unexpected rerouting.
Then, Liberty Coalition Canada shut down its formal operations, and I was working part-time at the school, which would not be a long-term possibility, not without some other income. I thought I would pour into my writing and podcasting, hoping to see an increase in paid subscribers, but that didn’t work out. I began working part-time at Sport Chek (which, interestingly enough, I did back when I was 23). Definitely a different route.
SO, let’s recap. I went from being a 31-year-old church planter in Kingston with two children who was preparing to minister in Kingston until I died, to being a 41-year-old part-time grade 7/8 teacher and part-time sales associate at Sport Chek with 5 children, attending a new church as a layman and living in a city in a totally different part of Ontario. That is a rather significant detour off of the path I was travelling. It was not what I was expecting when I set out on my journey, as it were. I still trust God for the destination, but this is not the way I planned on taking.
Hope for the traveller
Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience in your life. Maybe you’re in the midst of one right now, totally spun around, not sure where you’re going, trying to follow God as your life-screen reads “rerouting.” For the first person, and especially for the second person, I want to offer some encouragement and truth from the Word of God, to help you, and quite frankly, to help myself too.
God has not abandoned you.
Deuteronomy 31:6-8 says, “’Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.’ Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’” We know this applies to Christians because the writer of Hebrews in 13:5-6 does just that.
God is not finished with you.
Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
God does not make mistakes.
Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
God is directing you where He wills.
Proverbs 16:9 and 33 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps… The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
God will provide everything you need to follow Him.
Matthew 6:25, 31, and 33 say, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?... Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
It might feel like a rerouting – like an unexpected detour – but rest assured, God is in control, and He actually has you exactly where He wants you. And when I say you, I also mean me.
I will pray for your peace and contentment as you wait on the Lord to reveal His will for your life.
Thanks for sharing Andrew! I was encouraged by this blog!