Voices and Destinations

I rented a car in my recent trip to the US and since I had not been to the States in over 3 years, I decided to get one with a GPS installed, so that I could rely on it for directions and so that I would never get lost. I even planned my destinations way ahead of time to save time.

Coincidentally, the GPS system was called NeverLost and if you have seen and used one (the devices are for sale in Banawe for about P3,000), they have a female voice that gives you directions - how much farther to go, when to turn and even what lane to stay on.

For the first two days of my trip, I listened to it intently as it directed me through the freeways of California to my intended destinations - even giving me an estimated of arrival time. :)

On the third day of my trip, I volunteered to pick several people up, the last one at an airport on the way to the conference site.

We were running late, so from the airport I "intentionally" decided to enter the conference site address despite knowing that I needed to stop for gas somewhere along the way - afterall, how hard could finding a gas station be for someone like me (being an oil company man, I planned for all my destinations but not for gas) but the unthinkable happened - I couldn't find a gas station in the neighborhood of the airport and the GPS kept on saying "recalculating" and "make a U turn".

What made things worse was that I got annoyed at the voice giving me directions that I turned the GPS off.

Imagine an "oil" man like me not being able to find a gas station with a NEVERLOST GPS system in hand. HOW COULD SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPEN?

Now I know it sounds funny, but in life how many of us have done the same thing and not listened to the voices of people that could help us find our way or help us get back on track? Or worse how many of us shut out the voices altogether?

There are several things that I've learned and am reminded of from this experience:

1. If you don't ask for directions, you will get lost.
2. If you don't listen to directions, you will get lost.
3. It doesn't matter how much you think you know, if you are in uncharted territory you need to listen to the voices that can help you. These voices could be that of your spouse, your parents, your colleagues at work, your boss, your staff or your friends.
4. It is important to know whose voice to listen to. Since I listened to the voice of pride (you're an oil man, you can find your own way), I got lost.

Proverbs 11:2 says, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

If you want to gain wisdom (the quality of being prudent and sensible), be humble and choose to listen to the voices of people who know better, who have been there and want the best for you and you will get to your destinations faster and without incident.