Like a loving parent, God leads us on detours in order to protect us from what could potentially harm us. Do you know parents like this? When my little sister, Erika, and I were seven and eight, Mom and Dad went overboard to protect us. Afraid for our safety, they wouldn’t even let us cross Grand Avenue on our own. Let me explain. We lived on Indiana Avenue, right off Grand, a busy street in Waukegan, IL. The other kids on Indiana had a much shorter walk to school than we did: they’d walk to the corner of Indiana and Grand, scurry across Grand, stroll a block to Lorraine Avenue, and then march a mile down Lorraine to Hyde Park Elementary. The Enis kids, however, weren’t so lucky. When we hit Indiana and Grand, we couldn’t cross Grand, but had to trudge half-mile past Lorraine to the corner of New York Street and Grand, where the crossing guard would escort us across Grand. Once we finally crossed Grand, we hiked our way back down to Lorraine, and then headed toward Hyde Park. Our parents sent us on a detour not so other kids could tease us—though tease us they did—but to protect us from zooming traffic and crazy drivers.
Today, twenty-one years later, Erika is a loving parent herself. And recently, she told me a bizarre story about her search for a daycare for my niece, Zeniah. Shopping around for a bargain, Erika visited Nana’s Daycare, a home-based business. Nana’s price was right but, for several reasons, Erika had a few reservations. For starters, the application was handwritten on notebook paper. True, we all have to start somewhere—but notebook paper? And when Erika asked to see her license to run her business, Nana replied, “Huh? A license? I don’t know anything about a license. I’m just Nana, and this is Nana’s Daycare.” Believe it or not, it gets worse. When Erika asked Nana how she handles scenarios when one kid reports that she’s been hit by another kid, Nana answered, “Well, I keep a switch. If one kid hits, I whomp both of them. I teach one not to hit, and I teach the other not to be a tattletale.” Nana, are you serious? Needless to say, Erika passed on Nana’s Daycare. She passed because her job as a loving parent is to protect her daughter.
Similarly, God, as loving parent, protects us. Oftentimes, that protection comes in the form of detours. Thus, we need not fret when He sends us right, even when we want to go left. When God is leading us by the roundabout way, let’s trust that He’s doing so not to hurt us, but to help us—to protect us from the zooming traffic, the crazy drivers, or people like Nana. Let’s trust that we’ll make it where we need to be, where we’re supposed to be, when we’re supposed to be there.
Comments