Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Car Trip (07/18/05)
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TITLE: Mapaneze | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kathy Bruins
07/25/05 -
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Being the group leader, I made copies of every map I thought we would need between the west side of Michigan to the east side, where we would gather with over 7,000 women at the Palace of Auburn Hills for the Women of Faith conference. With cars packed tightly, the road trip began!
One thing I learned is that everyone reads a map differently…like if to get new meaning and understanding out of the lines and numbers printed. It’s especially fun when the numbers of highways are listed together, such as I75/23. Sometimes a third number is added to the mix. So when you come to exits, you see one of the three numbers listed for one way, and another of the three numbers listed to go another way. With a car full of women, everyone reads the numbers in a new and interesting way. I would go one way and just before we reach the exit, someone would yell, “You’re going to miss it! Quick turn right!” In the panic of the situation, I would follow this directive and turn right. Miles down the road, we would realize we shouldn’t have turned right and kept going straight. Time to turn up the air conditioning…things are heating up! If my car went one way, the other car also went that way. Aerial views would have proved entertaining. So we turned around and traveled miles back to where we needed to be, which of course, we saw in a distance to the right where we wished we could simply drive over the guardrails and grass to reach it…or maybe I just wanted to drive into the guardrails to end the frustration.
In Michigan, we have what’s called a “Michigan turn.” Perhaps other states have these, where you drive past the road you want to turn onto, then do a U-turn at the indicated area, and drive back to the street you want and complete your turn. If you happen to miss the indicated area to turn, you will need to complete two Michigan turns to get to the spot you want to turn.
Traveling around Auburn Hills, we often experienced the double-whammy Michigan turn. Often, my cell phone would ring, and a sweet voice would say, “Do we know where we’re going?” I would assure them that the mishap was straightened out. However, on the next missed Michigan turn, an ugly creature from inside me emerged and started smacking the navigator with the map…much to the enjoyment of the car following.
We finally arrived at the Palace! It began to rain. A deluge of blessings poured over us as we were swept into worship and praise through the music, heard the Word of God spoken, clapped and cheered of the victories God had in other’s lives, and cried with those who were suffering, knowing that God wasn’t done yet. God wasn’t done with us either.
We learned that the things in life that God allows to happen bring us closer to Him. We must remember that God doesn’t allow many things to happen in our lives that the evil one would like to do, but He does allow some things to bring us to a new understanding of who He is and the great love He has for us. Before we left for home, there was prayer for direction, both for our lives and on the way home. God is so good! We made it all the way home without a mishap. As we entered the west side of Michigan, it began to rain. Again, there was a deluge of wetness that was refreshing that reminded me of the refreshment of the conference where God’s Holy Spirit took control. Many times, the Pistons have been the winners on the basketball court. This time, we celebrated Jesus…the Champion!
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