Driving Headlong into the Side of That Building!

I was driving home after a healthcare conference in downtown Chicago last week.

Chicago street names aren't that familiar to me, but I can usually tell if I'm heading away from the Lake, towards the convention center, near the theater district, etc.
Google maps voice told me to turn left off State Street onto Ida B. Wells Drive and head due West, straight for the Interstate 94 on ramp.

The only problem was this building that seemed to be planted into the middle of Ida B. Wells Drive. I couldn't tell how many blocks ahead it was, but sure enough, Wells Drive looked like it would end at a cross street in front of this attractive structure.

This didn't make topographical sense to me.

I could see an I-94 sign at the corner, with its arrow pointing straight ahead. Nothing indicated turns, either left or right.  Not a peep from Google map voice.

I craned my head, but I just couldn't see past all the traffic to figure out if Wells Drive stopped, veered to the right, or....what?

My sense of direction assured me that the Lake was directly behind me (to the East). Any kid born in Southeastern Wisconsin can tell which way the Lake is, day or night (that's Lake Michigan to any non-midwesterner's reading this).  If the Lake is behind me, the interstate is directly in front of me and I'm on a major east-west street in downtown Chicago, then....oh wait.

It's the Chicago Stock Exchange building. I could see the big gold letters as I got closer. And, as traffic finally crept over a rise in the uneven asphalt, I could make out what every kid born in Chicago probably knows. You drive under the Chicago Stock Exchange building on Ida B. Wells Drive, also known as Congress Parkway.  Sheesh. Never mind!

Isn't that our thought process sometimes as we drive down the paths God has provided?

"But there's this big building standing right in the middle of the road!  I thought I was supposed to head this way, now what?  I don't have a plan for going left or right -- and I'm sure you meant directly ahead, no turns?!"

At least that's how my conversations with God sometime's go.

And then I come over a slight rise, look a little closer.  Oh. Sheesh. I'm going to drive right through this giant immovable object in my life. Right through it.    That is what God will do.

Sure, there are times when we do need to veer left or right. Straight ahead may have been our plan and not God's plan.  But there are ways to check the map.  Stay in daily prayer. Look for affirmation of decision making principles in the Bible.  Truth, humility, unselfishness...these should accompany the direction you take.  Then, if there's a building planted in the middle of that road, it may be one you're intended to drive through, with God's help.

Proverbs 4:26-27

"Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

What do you believe?