I recently did a review of some of the previous segments I’ve done for Classic State of Mind, things I’ve said in previous broadcasts. Doing so gives me a perspective on what I was thinking at a particular time, about a particular word, you might say.

In a previous segment several months ago, I did some musings about maps, and how difficult they are to re-fold, comparing that challenge with life as it unfolds. At the time I wrote that piece, I assumed it was a worthwhile observation.

But as I look at it now, I see something I hadn’t seen before: Nobody these days messes with trying to fold a map, because none of us actually uses a map, at least not the kind you unfold and then try to re-fold. I haven’t actually looked at a map like that in a long time. I don’t need a map if I’ve got my cell phone. I just type in the address I want to find, hit the directions button, and then do what that lady on my cell phone tells me to do. My cell phone talks to me, and tells me where to turn; my cell phone tells me where there’s congested traffic on my proposed route, and even changes that route to a faster one, if needed. My cell phone magically gives me an ETA, too. An estimated time of arrival, so I can be appropriately nervous, if it looks like I’m going to be late arriving.

On rare occasions, I have had experiences with Google maps, however. There have been a few times I can recall when I followed the directions I was given by that lady on my cell phone, and when she said, “Arrived!” … I hadn’t arrived. The directions she gave me led me to a destination I hadn’t asked her for. In other words, she misdirected me. I trusted her instructions. I believed her directions. But evidently, her global positioning map was flawed, out of date, or just plain old … wrong. I hadn’t arrived, like she said. I obviously needed to keep looking.

I don’t know why I have so much faith in that lady on my cell phone. Maybe it’s because she sounds like she knows what she’s talking about. Maybe it’s because she’s right, most of the time. Maybe it’s because nobody uses folded maps these days, and everybody listens to that lady on their cell phone for navigation and directions.

I do find it interesting, though. There’s a world of difference between directions to an address, and guidance that leads to a Destination. No matter how many times that lady on my cell phone says I’ve ‘arrived?’ I’m not through navigating life until God says, “You’ve arrived.” Until I hear Him say, ‘Welcome Home,’ I keep moving. And my need for direction never wanes. Every day, I look to Him with supreme faith and confidence: He knows my every way and route. Ps. 32:8 says,

“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.“