My dad has a thing about directions. I’m pretty sure all the good ol' boys raised in small towns in his generation do the same. They don’t ask Siri which street to turn on. They don’t type a bunch of numbers into GPS. They have another kind of map -- it's in their hearts. The lay of the land is so familiar to them that they have their own language to explain it. Their details paint pictures: "It’s on the old dirt road south of town, two miles west of the grain elevator, go over the Spring Ceek Bridge, past the Miller place, you’ll come to a big intersection, take a left and Johnson’s barn will be on your right, watch for potholes..." Most of us cell-phone-dependent folk don’t have time for this. We need that familiar computer voice to make it simple: tell us right now, exactly where we’re going. We can't really trust ourselves on these back roads. We want to know when we’re going to arrive, and for heaven's sake, don't send us the long way! This can be our dilemma with God, too. We just want to know exactly where He’s leading us next, and when we'll get there -- we're efficient like that. Can't He just lay out the map and point to the destination? More often than not, He sends us slowly through the back roads, turn by turn, to our next stop. No, we don’t know the lay of the land, but He sure does. And yes, he could download specific instructions right to our brains, but could it be that He delights in guiding us, step-by-step? That -- just like my dad shares a part of his heart with me when he describes this land that he loves -- God‘s love comes to us in that day-to-day guidance through unfamiliar territory? I watch my dad‘s face as he speaks of the bends in the road; I watch his hands as he points me in a new direction; I hear the tone of his voice as he warns me of obstacles in hidden places. I want my connection with my Heavenly Father to be like that -- to draw so close that I don’t miss the details He offers each day. What is He saying through my circumstances? How do I hear Him in the quiet? What reminders does His Word bring? Sure, I'd love to know how it's all going to go, but I've learned that's not what matters most. What matters is Who I'm travelling with. He reminds me of this often, calling me back to the moment just to be with Him. I believe we can go anywhere with Jesus at the wheel.