Convoy

A couple of months ago, my husband and I drove two different cars to the same place because we each had separate plans leading up to that. At night, when it was time to go home, he asked me if I wanted us to follow each other and I said, yes, he can lead and I will drive behind him. And thus begun our 48 km journey home.

When he turned on his signal I turned mine on. When he changed his lane I changed mine too – even when some of his lane changes didn’t make sense to me. When he slowed down, so did I and when he sped up I gunned it. I was keeping as close a distance as safely possible because I didn’t want to lose him. He was also careful not to lose me – which sometimes meant he didn’t go past a green/amber traffic light because he knew that there wasn’t enough time for both of us to cross the intersection.

When we got on to the highway, staying close behind him became increasingly challenging. For safety reasons, I had to put ample distance between us. At some point an SUV cut in front of me. Given that it was a much higher car than my little Betsy (a ’99 Chevy Cavalier), my view was blocked and I could no longer see my hubby’s car. A bit of a panic came over me because we were approaching a fork on the road and I didn’t know which of the two lanes hubby would choose. (By the way, I am not even sure why I panicked because I knew the way home – it’s not like i would have gotten lost on my own). Little Miss Betsy was obviously no match for the SUV performance-wise, but i coaxed, cajoled, and begged her to give me all she had – and the faithful ol’ gal came through. She may have panted, croaked and coughed the entire time, but she finally managed to overtake the SUV. Yay for Betsy! First order of business was to locate my hubby. I was expecting him to be long gone as I didn’t think he had noticed I had been left behind (given how dark it was). But I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was close-by. Not only had He noticed my delay, but had also slowed down significantly to wait for me to catch up. When he saw Betsy, he indicated the way to go, changed his lane, and away we went.

At some point during the journey, I realized that I didn’t even know where we were exactly. My eyes had been firmly glued to his bumper to make sure I didn’t miss any of his lane changes. So I didn’t notice any of the road signs or much else for that matter. But seeing as he was the lead car, I trusted that he was reading the signs and therefore he should know which way to go. My work was just to follow his lead.

When we came close to exiting the highway I saw his hazard lights come on suddenly. I quickly decelerated and looked out for what had made him turn on his 4-way flashers – and that’s when I saw that a car was stopped on the side of the road. It wasn’t fully on the shoulder though; part of it was  blocking the lane we were barreling down on at 110 km/h. I sure was glad hubby was driving ahead to call my attention to it because I am not so sure I would have seen the stalled car in time to safely avoid it.  The rest of the journey was uneventful and we made it home safe and sound. Something that stood out to me was that although I drove alone in the car, I didn’t feel lonely. I felt like I had remained connected to him by virtue of following him the entire way.

I am pretty sure most of you reading this have found yourselves in a convoy of sorts with friends or family – and your experiences are similar to mine. Isn’t it so much fun following one another? Somehow it makes even the most mundane of journeys that much more enjoyable and eventful.

This whole convoy business got me thinking about how beautiful my life would be if how I followed my hubby’s car was the way I followed my God on a daily basis. I don’t always do a great job of following God’s lead. Sometimes He’ll say to go left and I go right. Or He’ll ask me to go but I’ll stay put. Other times I grow impatient with the “slow” speed He’s driving at and I overtake Him, expecting Him to follow me instead. But how much richer would my life be if the thought of taking my eyes off of God for even a millisecond threw me into an instant panic. How wonderful would our lives be if we consistently played our rightful roles in life: with us as the sheep, and our God as the Shepherd.

God, the Good Shepherd, promises to guide us along the right paths, to provide for us, and to protect us (Psalms 23)…but we have to allow Him to lead us. And why wouldn’t we? He sees into tomorrow and into eternity; we on the other hand only see this very current second. God knows both the blessings and the dangers that lie ahead of us and can therefore steer us accordingly. Wouldn’t it then be more logical to let Him figure out the way and we only concern ourselves with the business of following Him, closely, daily? In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (i.e. show you which path to take)”.

The good thing about allowing God to lead us is that on the occasions when we are tired, lagging behind, lost, or facing obstacles, He will not leave us behind. Rather He will wait on us, or come find us, or carry us, or help us to overcome. I don’t know about you but that sure sounds like a worry-free way of living to me (Matthew 6:25-34). My prayer is that we would give the Good Shepherd full control and follow wherever He may lead.

Song: Good Shepherd Of My Soul by Keith & Kristyn Getty

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