{Detour}

The trip south, toward home, was long.



Really long.



150 miles too long!



After leaving Ely headed toward Las Vegas, I was dealing with cranky kids and Dean wasn't paying attention. We missed a turn. A very important turn. It wasn't until it was too late, 150 miles too late, that we realized we had missed the turn. I was on the verge of tears. Dean was just mad. We both felt stupid. And the kids were tired of being in the car.



These pictures were taken when we stopped to let the kids out for a walk, just before we realized our predicament. As you can tell, there wasn't much around. After we got back in the car, we started to wonder why we had been on this road for so long. Where were the road signs to Las Vegas? Unfortunately we had not bothered to turn on the navigation {internet required} before then and at that point there was no cell phone reception. We didn't have a map either. So we did the only thing we could, we prayed and kept driving. Just before Tonopah {yeah look it up, we didn't know where it was either} we got reception. Sure enough, we were far from our turn off! So we kept driving, stopped for gas and got back on track. I felt so bad that the kids had to stay in the car longer than necessary! Luckily the kids soon fell asleep and we finally arrived in Las Vegas 2 hours later than expected.



Now we laugh about it {that's how it usually works right?} but in the middle of it, it was not very funny. "What are we supposed to learn from this?" I asked Dean as we were finally headed the right way. This is what I came up with:

Sometimes in life we are going along our way, headed home. We think we have it covered. We don't need a map or GPS; we have done this a dozen times and we feel confident. Then for some reason we get distracted or we just aren't paying attention to the important things. Before you know it we are completely off track; we've missed a turn. We are pretty sure we are lost, but we don't know where we are exactly. We weren't prepared enough to bring a map and we have lost reception. Our only choice: pray for help and keep driving. Eventually that prayer is answered, we get back on track and head toward home. But there are consequences for our error in judgment. We feel stupid for making the mistake and embarrassed when we have to admit to it. Often times someone else is hurt or negatively affected by our mistakes. We have to let go of our pride and apologize, then do our best to make things right again. It's hard to have to travel those extra miles to get back on track but it is worth it. Then when we finally make it, we look back changed, but stronger than we were, with the resolve to NEVER make that mistake again...



or leave home without a map.