To Autopilot or Not to Autopilot.....

This past week I had to go somewhere I had not been before. My destination was a home in a neighborhood halfway between San Antonio and Boerne. The house was a few miles off the highway.  Fair Oaks Parkway was the main road that took you in a good part of the way. I have been on Fair Oaks Parkway so many times, so that part of the drive was pretty straightforward.  Once I turned off Fair Oaks Parkway, it was another matter. I found myself meandering along roads I had not been on before. There were a lot of twists and turns. GPS Navigation was my best friend at this point.

When I headed home from there, GPS was once again needed to get me out of this unknown land. As soon as I plugged in my destination, I turned on a podcast and started my journey home. Once I turned on to Fair Oaks Parkway, I thought to myself, "Well, I certainly don't need my GPS to get home from here. It is autopilot time." 

I continued my drive home on autopilot for the next little while. The podcast I was listening to was amazing. I was completely wrapped up in it. At one point a beautiful story was being shared and I found myself driving along the road with tears running down my face.  It was a beautiful time as a cruised along on my merry journey home.

After I had been cruising down the road for a while, I saw a movie theater on my right. My brain went into "try to make sense of this" mode. The first direction it went was, "Huh...that theater looks just like the one in Boerne. When did they build that? What road did they build it on? Funny it is like a mirror of the Boerne one." Then my brain immediately followed from there to, "Wait! If that is the Boerne theater, it is on the wrong side of the road for my route home. Wait! I didn't go to Boerne, so how could I need to pass Boerne from this direction?"  This flow of thoughts took mere seconds. Then it dawned on me. When I had come out to the highway from Fair Oaks Parkway, without even a thought, I had turned away from home. My autopilot was so engaged, I didn't process the decision as a decision. I just merged onto the access road that would let me jump right onto the highway. 

Once I got myself turned around and was headed home, in the right direction this time, the first thought that came to my mind was, how many times do we do this in our walk with the Lord? How many times do we try to make things fit what we think is true instead of immediately realizing we need to check our map - that we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere. WE then end up headed in the wrong direction in our thoughts or beliefs on something. We make the assumption that any error must be external from us - it couldn't possibly be our error. 

In our daily walk with the Lord, we can go into autopilot mode so easily. We get so settled and comfortable, that our walk can become a routine and not a relationship. We think we already know something or we have already been down this road, so we don't really need to revisit it or spend time there. I can think of so many times when I have sat in church when the pastor starts talking about a passage of Scripture, and I have zoned out because it is something  that I have heard "a thousand times before." Or what about the times when praying that I have turned on autopilot which means I have missed out on the intimacy and relationship with our Lord by not truly being present in the moment? How many times do I think I already know something about Scripture, when I need to be ever vigilant to follow the map of God's Word and not make assumptions based on my thoughts or feelings?

When I am on autopilot and not actively seeking and engaging in relationship with Jesus, I can end up off track very quickly. I can find myself somewhere I am not supposed to be. I need the constant GPS navigation of God's Word to know truth and stay on course. If I want to know who God is and what HE says about things, I need to stay actively engaged with Him in His Word and in prayer. I need to not assume that from my own thoughts and feelings I know God's thoughts and feelings on something. When I do this, I am forming a god of my own making. I am making a god that lines up very well with how I think and feel - which very conveniently lets me keep doing the things I want to do - there doesn't need to be any crucifying of my flesh. I can just cruise along in my life with the autopilot firmly engaged.

We as followers of Jesus need to be alert even when we are on a familiar route. We need to always be intentionally living and walking with our precious Lord. We need to keep the spiritual GPS of the Word of God running at all times AND need we must pay attention to it - not just have it on for background noise. Just having it running is no different than being on auto pilot. In order for us to not get off track in this life journey,  the twists and turns must be directed by the truth of God's Word. I am so thankful He gave us His Word to guide us, teach us, and draw us to Him in relationship. I am so thankful for a clear and true path that leads to life eternal.