Earlier this year, I was running late for class, because I couldn’t turn away from the series finale of The Wire. After learning that Michael had become the new Omar, Bubbles had gotten himself together, and McNulty had gotten away with “murders,” I jumped in and out the shower, dressed, grabbed an apple, and then dashed out the door. Nine minutes before class, while blasting Kanye West (“Champion” on REPEAT), I noticed a traffic jam ahead. The construction workers were doing—well—construction. As I approached the cars stacked like sardines, the DETOUR sign sent me right, when I wanted to go left. With sweat on my nose, I stopped bobbing my head and yelled, “Are you serious?!” The sign was serious. Grudgingly, I went right. But, believe it or not, I was actually on time for class. Despite the detour, I made it where I needed to be, where I was supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there.
A detour is an indirect, roundabout way to get from one point to another. We all encounter detours—not just on the road, but in life. When I look over my shoulder, I see that, more than once, life has sent me right, when I wanted to go left. Often, when life detours us, when it sends us on what seems to be a runaround, we become frustrated, bitter, and, in extreme cases, depressed. But this is the wrong way to respond to detours because, sometimes, God Himself leads us on detours. Notice Exodus 13:17-18: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, ‘If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea” (italics mine). Since God, who loves us unconditionally, who wants the very best for us, guides us down detours, then we need not fret when we encounter them. What we should do, however, is ponder the benefits of detours.
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