Change of Plans

I needed to hear from God. SO I did what any good Christian should do- I played into the cliché picture of pleasant solitude with a beautiful view and the warm sunshine. I packed my guitar and some good Christian music into my car and set off to find a good spot. My first attempt led me straight to the river…I mean literally. It was flooded and the road I was on ran right into the Mississippi River. Needless to say, I turned around and kept looking. I did a little exploring and ended up on a narrow road that followed the river. Now, this was the kind of place I was looking for…abandoned, quiet, peaceful…and impossible to get out of. Imagine this scene: a 1989 station wagon without a muffler arrives at a dead end…with no place to turn around. On one side of the road is a cliff whose bottom is covered with the flooded water, on the other side a wall of rock. Straight ahead? Well that was chained off between two cement columns. That was the situation I found myself in. To make matters worse, behind those chains and columns, my once desolate road had now housed some scary building with a no trespassing sign. Two other cars stood stopped in the road.( Only they were facing the proper direction to get out…how the managed this, I am not aware of, had I been aware of it, perhaps I could have managed the same feat) I have never learned how to parallel park. I barely passed maneuverability. Backing up is one of my least favorite things. But I did the only thing I could do; I proceeded to drive my car backwards down a narrow road for a good mile. I am sure the owners of those cars and the jogger I drove past got a good laugh at the station wagon weaving back and forth between cliff and wall all they way back down the road. SO I was on the hunt again, this time I left the flooded shoreline of the river and headed up to safer country. I went to a more public place and decided to sit on an overhang. I thought I had it…my beautiful scenery, my peaceful solitude…but then it occurred to me that by this time the warm sunshine was gone. It was rather cold. My once guitar calloused fingers were not so calloused anymore and playing the guitar hurt, not to mention it was out of tune. Then I looked over and saw a little pile of dog poop. This confused me. I climbed a fence to sit on this cliff overhang…how did the dog get up there? Did someone pick him up and put him there? And if so why? There was grass everywhere else…why would the dog pick the spot with the least amount of grass, on top of a cliff that he had to climb a fence to get to? These were the thoughts that ran through my head….

I got back into my car and drove back. I did not hear any audible voice from God, my decisions did not become any clearer, and my night did not fit the image that I had wanted to create. But at least for a few moments, I did not feel the weight of trying to organize my thoughts, for a little while; I enjoyed life and laughed at myself, for a little while I just talked to God. Maybe sometimes that’s all we need.