Whose Travel Plan Is It?

Let’s take a drive. This is an imaginary trip so we can choose any locale or highway. How about the Lincoln Highway, which was dedicated back to 1913, becoming the first cost-to-coast road in the United States. This highway originated in Times Square and ended almost 3,400 miles later in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. It was eventually replaced with numbered highways, most of the route becoming U.S. Route 30, which goes from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. Today, the primary coast-to-coast highway is Interstate 80.

In Philadelphia (below), the Lincoln Highway made its way along Haldeman and Bustleton Avenues to Roosevelt Boulevard before connecting to Broad Street.

Not up for a coast-to-coast trip? Then how about the iconic Route 66? This highway (painting below) was one of the first that was numbered, established back in 1926. It originally ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. Today all that remains is “Historic Route 66” which runs from Illinois to Arizona. John Steinbeck’s 1940 novel The Grapes of Wrath chronicles the exodus of farmers who left the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, traveling to California on Route 66. In 1946, Bobby Troup wrote the R&B song, “(Get your Kicks on) Route 66.”

Neither of those interest you? Then let’s try the Pacific Coast Highway. This scenic route (below) runs 656 miles along California’s coastline. Driving the PCH provides spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, with probably the most scenic stretch being between San Francisco and Big Sur. Segments of U.S Route 101 in Oregon and Washington are known as the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.

I will leave it up to you to choose to which trip we take. If none of my trip choices are suitable to you, then how about if we just start driving, with no travel plan or navigational device, and see where we end up. Let’s use the approach, “Go west, young man,” a phrase popularized during America’s westward expansion in the 1800s.

Just start driving with no plan and no GPS – sounds ridiculous right? But, let’s be honest, we sometimes navigate our way through life that way as well – with no plan or no navigational device. At times we travel through life by simply “going west,” hoping the trip gets us “where we want to go.” And by doing so, we make bad choices, we often never get where we want to go, and we frequently encounter roadblocks, dead ends, wrong turns, missed turns, and detours along the way.

You say, “But, I do have a plan!” Can I ask, is it your plan or is it God’s plan? Psalm 32:8 tells us that God desires to be our travel guide and navigational device – “The LORD says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for life. I will advise you and watch over you’” (NLT).

The apostle Paul offers us this advice: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).

(When a verse begins with the word “then,” it is imperative to go back and read the entire passage in its context, so I encourage you to read the entire section.)

I believe what Paul is saying is that a foolish person has no real strategy, no real travel plan, for life and that the foolish person misses opportunities to live under God’s direction in an evil world. A world that loves nothing more than to lead us down the wrong road.

So, today as you look at the road ahead, are you simply following the “go west” plan or will you seek God’s plan for the remaining journey?

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