I like maps. In any form – paper, GPS devices, and my iPhone – maps work! The idea that someone studies, take detailed notes, and then draws is magical. The outcome, a picture representing the ways things are, is fascinating. True, not all maps are complete or accurate. The collective body of knowledge is always building on the foundation of those that came before. Today’s technology is taking maps to new levels. Visual representations are mixed with photographs. Directions are easily available.
It is hard to imagine life without this information. I recall the Automobile Association’s map and related directions. We were going from west to east, across the breath of India. In those days, we never imagined GPS devices, iPhones, or Google maps. We found ourselves relying on information decades old and hand-drawn. Much had changed, yet it was still better than any other alternative.
I think of this in context of the change underway in my life. A picture of a young boy, likely my grandfather, watches over me as I sleep. In his life, things were already beginning to accelerate. Today things are consistently changing so much that we rarely talk about the change, we simply accept.
We have maps, but we have no idea where we are going. We ask for directions, accepting the answers that never give us what we are looking for. We travel blissfully into the future, blind and often ignorant.
I wish I had a life map. I wish I knew with certainty where things were heading.
There is a story I see emerging if I am willing to let it wash over me. I am living the metaphor of another generation. “From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen!” (1 John 1.1) God is at work in your life and mine. Divinity is willing to lead if I am willing to follow.
