There was a story in last week's papers about a taxi-driver who picked up a customer near Northampton to take her 75 miles south to Stamford Bridge (the home of Chelsea football club) so that she could watch a football match between Chelsea and Arsenal. Unfortunately when they arrived at Stamford Bridge, courtesy of the taxi's Sat-Nav, they had travelled 146 miles north to the village of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. To be fair to the driver he apparently asked confirmation from his controller when he was told to head north - and he was told by the controller that the electronic voice was right.
This is not the first time such stories involving sat-nav systems have made the news. Some people rely on them to such an extent that even their common sense is silenced. But surely on a 146 mile journey north the passenger in the taxi would have noticed from the road signs on the motorway that they were not headed towards London. If there had been an element of doubt in the taxi driver's mind a simple question to his passenger about their destination would have saved a wasted journey and the match would not have been missed.
But sometimes on our journey through life we just carry on regardless and never stop to ask ourselves where we're going and why. We may have nagging questions and doubts but for whatever reason we just allow ourselves to carry on going - even though we may be going in totally the wrong direction.
When I was a student I used to have a holiday job making bee hives. One of the things that the boss said to me right at the beginning was that if you're not totally sure about what you're supposed to be doing, stop and ask. It's better to waste a few minutes checking than it is to carry on and then find out at the end of the day that you've made a mistake that could cost the company thousands of pounds.
But how often in our churches do we stop and ask, 'what are we doing?' and 'why do we do it that way?' We live in a rapidly changing world, filled with people whose fundamental needs are the same as they've always been. And therefore as we seek to be the people of God in a changing world we need to make sure that stops are built into our journey so that we continue to meet people where they are rather than try to meet them where their parents or grandparents were.
4 comments:
yep, that sat nav story is more impressive than my brother who drove about 1/3 mile down a one-way street to find 3 lanes of traffic coming in the other direction!!!!!! Sat nav's eh?
its definitely good to take stock and listen to what God is saying to us about His direction, His purposes and His will - following His Way
Verona
it is often good to stop and think
in all walks of life what we are doing and why.In my work situation I often tell my assistants to ask if they didn't know what they are supposed to do. Most of all I tell myself if you are not sure ask or refer. If thats what we would do
for our earthly things how much more important it is for us to stop and ask our heavenly father and seek help from his word to be sure we are pleasing him . By the way on sat navs I always do a RAC route directions just in case
daniel
Talking of Sat Navs Huh!!!, i had some experiences.
I went for a christmas party with my colleagues from work to West End in a rented car. The driver was so confident driving as if there is no tomorrow only to end up at dead end, guess what he did, he took out his A To Z to redirect him because ' mr sat nav' could not think further than the dead end, thank God he had backup.
A month ago we went to watch a performance with some church members at Hertfordshire, i used sat nav and it took the longest root through the bushes, i was panicking because my petrol is getting low and boy you can imagine what was going through my head. From these experiences, i have learnt my lesson and always drive to a point i am familiar with before using sat navs.
The point is most of us christians behave like one driver when asked where he is going, he said 'i don't no where i am going but i am driving very fast'
We need to ALWAYS stop, think and take stock of our walk with the Lord to ensure we are in the right track.
Even having said what I said I finally bought a sat nav the other day and found it great in getting me the 19 miles from NW London to SE London (and back again) without getting lost once. That was the first time I used it and it was certainly a lot less stressful than trying to use a map or follow written instructions. My wife is pleased because if I was to get lost I would get cross with the machine (called Jane) rather than with her!
But having used it that once for a journey through the centre of London I am aware that there were points (busy juntions with multiple lanes of traffic etc) where I was paying more attention to the sat nav than I was to road signs etc. Very easy to see how you could drive through a red light or go the wrong way down a one way street!
On the return journey I made more use of the information regarding which road you're on and which road you're wanting to be on next - and use this to make much more use of the road signs. Sat nav is a great thing as long as we continue to use our brains!
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