Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64And even if we don’t know the way, we can type the destination address into our smartphone app and rely on an automated voice to guide us through every turn. Regardless if we are following our own mental map or the voice on our phone, sometimes we run into a detour (something we did not expect). Some roadblock that requires us to make a U-turn or go down a path we did not expect. I don’t know about you, but I like to get to where I am going without any detours. In fact, when the kids were younger and we loaded them all into the car to drive from Dallas to Baltimore to visit my parents each summer, I barely even stopped. Sometimes I would race myself based on the last year’s time in order to see if I could beat my previous time. If the kids needed to use the bathroom, I told them to wait. If they were thirsty, they had to wait. There was a method to my madness, you see. If I got the kids a drink, then we would have to stop more down the road to use the bathroom. Essen- tially, they all buckled down at my mercy because I had a destination at which to arrive. As you might imagine, if I won’t even stop for normal things like food and bathroom breaks, you can guess how I feel about a detour. It’s not good. I sigh. I moan. I wonder why on earth did this have to happen to me right now. Have you ever done something similar? Have you ever been driving down the road when all was well only to arrive at a construction site with orange signs and arrows, and experience your whole attitude and outlook change? I’ve admitted that mine changed; you can admit it too. Detours are typically unexpected inconven- iences that, without fail, cause a speed bump in your emotions. It’s either a sign you come upon, or a person who steers you elsewhere, or a police car with lights on it sitting there to let you know the road you are traveling is no longer available. Now, because of the detour, you and I must go off the beaten path, take longer than we had wished to, and be inconvenienced in order to arrive where we had hoped to go. Few of us like to be stalled for any reason. Even if it’s just someone cutting us off in traffic and forc- ing us to slow down. But detours are necessary if any improvement is going to be made on the paths we travel. Or if any wreck is going to be cleaned up or hazard avoided. Detours are designed for our own good, regardless of how we view or feel about them. Detours are good things that often feel bad. Divinely designed detours are positive inter- ruptions designed to divert us down a better path so that we might have the opportunity to reach our destination at all. Let me repeat that since it is something we don’t often hear: Detours can be a good thing. They provide safety, opportunities for road improvement, and a different way to get where we want to go. If you were to sit at a detour sign and stubbornly refuse to take the diversion, you would go nowhere. You would just sit there. For days. Possibly weeks sometimes. Yes, a detour may take longer than you had originally planned; however, it won’t take any longer than if you were to try to push through it on the original path. That will get you nowhere. Detours on the Road of Life I f you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a destination. We often refer to that as your destiny. From an eternal perspective, we know what our destiny is to be and that it involves being in God’s presence forever—worshipping Him and working for Him in our eternal state. That is our eternal destiny. But each of us also has a time-bound destiny 28 WWW.AGRM.ORG MARCH/APRIL 2017 Detours can be a good thing. They provide safety, opportunities for road improvement, and a different way to get where we want to go.