Psalm 119:101 Knowing the Road

There's a street in my hometown of Columbia, MO, called Carter Lane. It's basically just an access road, what some would call a frontage road, It runs parallel to one of the city's primary arteries, South Providence Road.

Most of the local people who read this are probably thinking they didn't know the name of that road, or that it even exists. It's so insignificant, the few businesses actually along that road have Providence Road as their address, not Carter Lane.

I barely knew Carter Lane existed until I began seeing it on my rideshare destinations over and over. I've lived in Columbia for nearly my entire life since I was eight, but I never knew how many people live on the streets leading off Carter Lane. There are several apartment complexes, plus numerous neighborhoods of duplexes and single-family homes.

Those Carter Lane neighborhoods are among the most confusing neighborhoods I drive to.

The last connecting street off the north end of Carter Lane is Campusview Drive. There's an apartment complex at the very beginning of that drive called Campus View Apartments, with 173 units. Bumped up against that complex is Boulder Springs, a 208 unit apartment complex. Further down Campus View Drive are hundreds more houses and duplexes.

The machine intelligence that powers the rideshare app GPS has trouble figuring out the difference between those neighborhoods. Whenever they send me to the Campus View area, I know there's a good chance it's going to take me to the wrong neighborhood or the wrong building.

The regular passengers in those neighborhoods have become aware of this problem. The smart ones will send me a text while I'm on the way, with very specific instructions on how to find them.

One college student called me when I was hopelessly lost and asked if the annoying speed bumps I was driving over were single speed bumps or double speed bumps. If it's not the double ones, she said, you're in the wrong neighborhood.

I'm getting better at it. I'm learning to take a close look at the instructions and compare that to the pin on the map that identifies where the passenger (or the passenger's phone) is located. I've learned to navigate around the complicated neighborhoods through trial and error. And I'm even taking notes on the things I'm learning about that neighborhood and others.

I'm meditating on the road map of Columbia.

I have kept my feet from every evil path 
so that I might obey your word.

Psalm 119:101

People talk about trial and error a lot, but for most people it's just a lot of haphazard trying and plenty of making errors. Only accidentally do they learn lessons for their trial and error.

The way to turn trial and error into trial and transformation is to intentionally see mistakes as an opportunity to learn. And that requires meditation.

Meditate on the teaching, rebuking, correction, and training provided in God's Word.

Meditate on the experiences you've had - today, over the past week, the past year, and throughout your life.

Meditate on your mistakes and your successes.

Meditate on how your experiences have transformed you, for better or worse.

Blend your meditation on your trial and error with your meditation on God's Word, allowing the scriptures to inform your experience and your experience to inform your understanding of the scriptures.

Meditate on the 1 road as you travel through life.