Last week I journeyed to Illinois. It was one of those nine hour and fifty-eight-minute drives. You would think the navigation system in a car would round the number up and say ten hours. The route of travel was not bad. I was on the interstate for 550 of the 600-mile drive.

I knew that the last fifty miles would be on a two laned highway. As I write, I am growing nostalgic about those folding maps families kept in their car. Funny thing about those maps, you never could quite fold them back the way they unfolded. Now the map is digital in our dash. When we make a wrong turn, they tell us, “Recalculating.”

The drive took me across the Mississippi River three times. I traveled through Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I did not leave Ruston until about 1:00 p.m. on Monday. I knew I would arrive late in the evening. I channeled my inner graduate school staying up late at night memory, grabbed a water bottle, chocolate, and set off.

The navigation system recalculated the route and downloaded from the cloud multiple times during the drive. I should have guessed that something was up. About 10:00 p.m. the nice navigation lady told me to exit I-57 at an exit called Benton. My tired brain thought, “this is the beginning of the two-lane road.” My graduate school brain warned me that “this is an unauthorized short cut.” Being tired I decided to trust my car. The navigation system had led me this far, no doubting it now.

I dutifully got off the Benton exit and headed east through the farmland of Illinois. The route of travel took me to a circle around the local courthouse. If you have ever been to Homer, you have done this. I thought, no sweat. I entered the circle and started around. The lady navigator told me to take the first right. I took it. Then I was instructed to take the first left. I took it. Another left at the next block. She instructed me to take two more left turns. You know where I ended up, don’t you? Draw it in the air!

Ok, if you do not air draw, I ended up in front of the same courthouse. I decided to do it again and maybe I had missed a left turn. Same instructions, same destination! I thought, the third time must be the charm. I enlarged the map on the screen in my car. I drove slowly so I could make sure I was taking the right streets when the left turns approached.

This third time she changed her instructions. She gave me the right turn and two left turns. She told me at the end of the road, turn right onto the ramp for I-57. Was she laughing behind my dashboard? Had she fallen asleep and was not paying attention to her map? Had she lost her mind? The nice navigation lady got me off the Interstate so she could drive me around a courthouse in Benton, Illinois. Had she made a date with an Acura and the car stood her up?

I will never know. But I did three laps around that courthouse and then like it never happened the nice navigating lady put me right back on the Interstate.
The lesson is simple, watch who you follow. Jesus said, “I am the WAY and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” You can trust Jesus to lead you to the path of life. All others, I suggest you trust after verifying.