Life is Full of Re-Routes
“We’ll be boarding this flight from Atlanta to Tulsa in 10 minutes.” Normally I would be grateful for an on-time flight heading home but this time these weren’t the words I wanted to hear. I’d been watching and praying about the impending storms for several days, and now I saw the radar showing a long dark orange line of storms with the threat of tornadoes headed straight toward Tulsa.
OK God, this is my answer? We’re heading right into this storm?! Passengers were nervously checking their phones with the latest weather updates. Soon we were alerted by the pilot that there would be some rough air, especially as we approached Tulsa.
My prayers went to a whole new level—for the pilot, for the air traffic controllers, for our storm-quelling God to still the winds. About the time we were supposed to be landing, the pilot came on again. “We’ve rerouted this flight to Wichita due to the storms and will be delayed landing about 45 minutes.”
I’d never been so glad to go to Wichita in my whole life!
As I reflected the next day and stared at the picture my husband had sent me of our flight’s less than direct path, God reminded me of a few life lessons.
The first, life is full of reroutes. Think of the children of Israel in the desert or the adventures of Paul in his missionary travels. But even if you’re not in the midst of a physical reroute, there’s one re-route that is needed daily. A re-route of the mind to keep us from slipping into or staying long in sadness, hopeless despair, disgust, shame, or fear. Where do you go to re-route your mind?
Jesus wants to be like that good and faithful air traffic controller in your mind who can bring you safely to a joyous and peace-filled destination. And He knows the true and best routes to take. He wants us to “sit a spell” in these routes in order to ingrain them in you and me.
There’s the route of praise to the faithful, all-knowing, merciful God.
There’s the route of marinating in His kindnesses.
How about the route of confession that restores us to the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12)? His truth brings that essential “lamp to your feet and light to your path.” (Psalm 119:105)
And lastly, the route of intercession that leads to peace as we cast all our anxieties on Him (Philippians 4:6-7).
Do you need a re-route for your mind today? I know a place where you can be encouraged in the company of others. Traveling through storms alone is never fun. Here you can be trained to re-route in this battle for the mind, learning to “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB) as you connect with Jesus.
Let me invite you to connect today with the ministry of Freedom in Christ.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.