de-tour: a long or roundabout route that is taken to avoid something or to visit somewhere along the way.
We've dubbed this summer our #summerofadventure which seems odd in the midst of the chaos that is 2020. When my kids are grown and look back on this year though, I hope that fond memories of God's goodness in the midst of chaos is what they share with their own kids.
A few months ago, my family was driving through the Smokey Mountains. Late in the afternoon, traffic slowed; a few police cars blocked the road. We waited as car after car ahead of us was directed to turn around. When we made it to the front of the line, an officer gave us directions for the best detour around the accident that was blocking our planned route.
Confident in his instructions, we made our way along the back roads of Tennessee.
As we drove, we approached a sign that read “road ends.” Wait what?
The pavement turned to dirt and narrowed, creating some apprehension as we traveled down this unknown road. Then, we rolled down our windows and were greeted with an
amazing smell.
Just a few miles from the main road, we would’ve never known that this place existed. If we hadn’t been told, “take this way, trust me,” we might’ve turned around when the path seemed a bit sketch.
But here we were, breathing deep, delighted by something so unexpected that we couldn’t have planned for ourselves.
I feel like those 30 minutes really sum up what the year 2020 has been like for my family… Unexpected detours that somehow have been better than what we had planned.
God has been taking this time of uncertainty to prove Himself faithful to us over and over. We are responding by putting our trust in the directions of the Lord: “Hold fast.” (Rev. 2:25)
This world is a vapor… my lifetime is just a blip in time… And this whole crazy year? A blink in comparison with eternity.
So with that perspective, we’re purposing to endure and maybe even embrace the detours of life, trusting the Lord to be with us every step along the way.
