Life's road sometimes needs detours

Patience is a virtue...for some. It is often a vice for me. Has that ever been true for me recently! For those of you who have already left the Houghton area, you missed it. The major downtown construction has started in Houghton (and several other areas) and the detours are pretty insane. As a commuter from Calumet, I have to head toward Wal-Mart to get to Michigan Tech. I drove the "wrong way" on Montezuma Avenue and could hardly tell I was in Houghton, having driven that same road the "right way" my entire life.

Anyways, traffic has not been particularly enjoyable (although the construction people who pulled all those detours off did an admirable job), and, while I have had no reason to be in a hurry, the slow pace of traffic, the orange cones and the new signage has been enough to occasionally get me frustrated.

After I escape the maze every day, I calm myself down. When I stopped one day to reflect on the whole situation, I could not help but think of a great but very basic lesson out of this whole not very interesting but somehow thought-provoking story.

Construction is necessary in our constantly deteriorating world, just as it is in our life. Fortunately, if you are a Christian, God is your master craftsman, helping you notice faults in yourself and helping you to correct them, via the Holy Spirit. Every once in a while, there is a reason to put a huge detour in.

I don't claim to know what your particular vice is, but are you giving into it? Are you walking a thin line between right and wrong? Perhaps you need to pray that God will help you figure out a detour, so you will no longer be tempted to the same degree. In I Corinthians 10:13, God promises that we will not face greater temptation than we can handle, and He promises to help us find a way of escape, or a detour.

Often times detours are frustrating, during travel and in life, but it is comforting knowing that there is a reason for a detour, and once the necessary construction has been done, we may return to our new and improved routes, with of course an even greater appreciation of the new repairs.