Divine Detours

In September of 2016 we began planning a road trip to end all road trips. We have a camper and my husband decided to save up his vacation in order to have three long weeks available. We planned stops, we watched food network shows about great restaurants in various cities along our route, we estimated miles, fuel costs, and pit stops. Enter Hurricane Irma in September of 2017.  Just days before we had planned to leave we were watching a massive storm unfold into a storm of historic size and scale.  We frantically packed the camper, and as winds were picking up speed, we made the decision to evacuate. We left around 11pm thinking maybe the massive crowds on the roads would be less than the morning crowds. That may have been true in a normal circumstance but this wasn’t normal.  We were soon bumper to bumper with thousands of Florida’s finest. I want to take this opportunity to apologize to the rest of the country for unleashing our driving skills upon you. I saw every type from each region of my home state: ranging from jersey girls in beemers to rednecks in pickups.  As we edged along for hours getting very few miles behind us I began to rethink our trip. We had to flip all of our plans into reverse. Maybe there wasn’t going to be room for us at RV parks, especially since there was a mass exodus occurring.  My heart stopped at the thoughts of what would we actually come home to after the storm and our trip was over!   

In the quiet of riding with my self centered thoughts I looked up at the stars and thought of all the mass movements of human civilizations over the course of time.  The children of Israel was one and then the young couple whose lives had already been altered by news of an unexpected baby was another.  The couple was forced to travel days with thousands in order to have a census taken!  

They weren’t riding in a modern vehicle, instead they were either on foot, riding a bumpy wagon or on a donkey.  None of these options are comfortable. Not one of them was suitable for a very pregnant woman.  They knew there were no reservations ahead. They were shoulder to shoulder with crowds and noise and possibly Roman Soldiers who were sent to police the madness created by a sea of humanity.

 After just hours we’d only made it a few miles into Georgia and ended up sleeping in our camper in the parking lot of a stripmall. There wasn’t even space for us in the Walmart parking lot (they normally allow overnight RV parking at all Walmart locations) due to all the other campers,cars,  and semi trucks looking for safe places to stop.  It wasn’t a night of great rest but we had an actual bed.  The familiar story of Bethlehem has Joseph and a very pregnant Mary being sent away because there were no rooms left.  Their minds were possibly swirling with whys about God’s plan.  Why a census taken now?  Why after all they’d trusted God with were they having a new curve ball thrown?  My heart has asked those same questions.  Why Lord? Why after all the years is there still more to carry?  Why do I need to go through more?  

The answer is always the same: He is here.  I’m assuming because of Mary and Joseph’s already proven faith they had also been taught the prophecy of Micah, that the savior would come out of Bethlehem but I could be wrong in thinking they fully knew and understood that prophecy as the wise men from the east had.  Hindsight is always clear sight so in the moment I’m sure they were frustrated, nervous, and perplexed.  But God!  God provided a small shelter.  A stable for His Son-His Lamb to be born.  Mary and Joseph continued to put one foot in front of the other in obedience and in the mundaneness of a government ordered road trip.  It was definitely a detour but it was divine.

Whatever you thought your life would look like this Christmas -it may look very different than planned.  Through no fault or decision of your own it has completely turned upside down.  I want to encourage you to keep leaning towards the  author and finisher of our faith. Trust Him with the journey.  Allow Him to use these detours to make you more like the baby in the manger. More like Jesus.  He was a man of sorrows so by definition we get to know Him more as we travel through the rough roads.  As the Psalmist so beautifully writes, “At what time I am afraid, I will trust in you”.

Trust Jesus this Christmas, either for the first time as Savior or for the thousandth time as peace giver and Sovereign God over your hardest detours.

-Melissa Pyle

12/23/2018