Hidden Trails

Today, the CEO of Apple apologized for the misstep of their new maps app for iOS6.  If you missed the whole debacle, count your blessings.  For most people, it doesn't amount to a storm in a teacup.  For someone who traveled I-20 from Ft. Worth toward Natchitoches and wanted to stop for lunch at In-N-Out burger, it really mattered.  I fell victim to the most common complaint, faulty address placement.  The directions given left me completely in the dark.  To make matters worse, as I was attempting to get my bearings, the phone rang.

The phone also rang this morning while I was reading my Bible.  It was my home warranty company trying to get me to renew the warranty for another year.  They had been calling in the evening, but since I did not recognize the number, I wasn't answering.  Today, I answered simply to get them off my back.  After getting off the phone, something struck me.

How do these two stories relate, other than including phone calls?  Let me finish the first story.  Because I was a little distracted by trying to deal with a complex issue, I kept driving forward in a straight line.  Even though I was using my new "handsfree" system, I didn't want to jeopardize my life or property by attempting complex maneuvers while on the phone.  Just as I was wrapping up my conversation, I began noticing my surroundings and found myself in front of In-N-Out Burger.  Someone was watching out for me who is greater than Apple.

One call interrupts my Bible reading, another lands me in front of my destination.  I can't help but believe that God protected me and brought me to my destination while forces of evil plotted to interrupt my Bible reading.  Others may call these events coincidences, but that would be connotatively incorrect.  A coincidence is "a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."  We often infer that these events have no causal connection.  By doing so, we fall prey to the materialistic obsession of the surrounding culture.  There are transcendent personalities stalking along hidden trails not visible to either Apple or Google.  God protects His own in often unknown ways.  Satan schemes to disturb us from following God and becoming more like Christ. 

These realities ought not make us paranoid.  Paranoia arises from an apprehension that all higher forces operate against us.  It isn't paranoia to say that forces of evil seek us harm.  It is paranoia to say that they are the only transcendent force operating toward us.  Though Satan and his slaves work to trip us up, the ultimate power is on our side.  How can we err into paranoia when nothing separates us from God's love and protecting hand?  Though we warily watch the events of the world, we rejoice that nothing thwarts God's plan or people.