GPStress
John 14:26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (RSV)
It is a common device to try describe spiritual truths by physical examples..."What a man sows so shall he reap" type of idea from the realm of farming. How about this one, "Whatever a man rips, he sews?" Or, more accurately, his wife sews (not saying that this is the way it should be or anything).
You have probably heard something like this within the last couple of years, "the Holy Spirit is like a GPS" guiding us through the travels of life. There is one problem with this analogy...for all of the usefulness of GPS systems, they are often wrong. We need to be careful with such comparisons. Such analogies are heresy. The Holy Spirit is always right in both His remembrance (past to present) and teaching (present to future).
Lina and I were up in New York City last weekend for the 5 Boro Bike Ride. The GPS failed three times in three different ways...
First, on Sunday morning, I checked the weather on my Verizon GPS system. It said "Partly Cloudy." Wrong. Partly cloudy would be like calling the US economy slightly downturned.
It rained all day...I did not dress appropriately based on the wrong forecast. I was cold and wet and miserable. Kind of like riding a bike through a refrigerated carwash for 4 hours. I was not as miserable though as the little girl who was being pulled by her dad on the ride whose face at one of the rest stops resembled a the front side of a tractor trailer's mud flap. When they came to a stop, I saw the poor child with about the saddest look on a kid's face this side of Africa. Character-building I suppose. Or child abuse.
Second, Lina had used my GPS system to try and find a pedicure shop close to where we were staying in NYC. One place that the GPS system had stated was very close by had relocated to New Jersey two years earlier...the other place, no longer existed period. Not sure how Verizon compiles the information but it is hardly comforting to know that its directories are at least two years old...and incomplete at that. The cavities in their system need some major dental work.
Third, on the way home, the GPS advised us to take the NJ Turnpike to Rt. 130 home. We knew that had to be wrong...I checked out 130 West on the Internet yesterday....speed limits of 25 mph abounded. So we had to turn around and go back in the direction of NYC to catch 78 West (note to self: when leaving NYC, stay in the Truck and Bus lane of I-95 South/NJ Turnpike). Two years ago Lina would have been pretty frustrated by me not initially overriding the wrong directions (I mistakenly thought that there would be an Exit for 78 off the Car lane of I-95 South/NJ Turnpike.) Now, she is calm and serene in the face of my directional blunders. I have broken the poor woman.
My buddy Rob awhile back warned me to not become too dependent on the GPS as it would lead me to not retain my ability to find my way around. I reminded him that he was making a specious assumption...that I had a sense of direction to start with...I don't.
So, the GPS is usually better than nothing...but I was not expecting it to be worse than nothing. And, based on my lack of sense of direction, that really kind of scares me. I am thankful that God's word is sure. In the words of Educational Psychology, it is both reliable (uniformly consistent) and valid (true). Note, it is possible for something to reliable and wrong (or reliably wrong, like my GPS was in NYC). It is not possible that something can be valid but not reliable. An interesting thing to ponder when one has spare time to reflect.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (RSV)
It is a common device to try describe spiritual truths by physical examples..."What a man sows so shall he reap" type of idea from the realm of farming. How about this one, "Whatever a man rips, he sews?" Or, more accurately, his wife sews (not saying that this is the way it should be or anything).
You have probably heard something like this within the last couple of years, "the Holy Spirit is like a GPS" guiding us through the travels of life. There is one problem with this analogy...for all of the usefulness of GPS systems, they are often wrong. We need to be careful with such comparisons. Such analogies are heresy. The Holy Spirit is always right in both His remembrance (past to present) and teaching (present to future).
Lina and I were up in New York City last weekend for the 5 Boro Bike Ride. The GPS failed three times in three different ways...
First, on Sunday morning, I checked the weather on my Verizon GPS system. It said "Partly Cloudy." Wrong. Partly cloudy would be like calling the US economy slightly downturned.
It rained all day...I did not dress appropriately based on the wrong forecast. I was cold and wet and miserable. Kind of like riding a bike through a refrigerated carwash for 4 hours. I was not as miserable though as the little girl who was being pulled by her dad on the ride whose face at one of the rest stops resembled a the front side of a tractor trailer's mud flap. When they came to a stop, I saw the poor child with about the saddest look on a kid's face this side of Africa. Character-building I suppose. Or child abuse.
Second, Lina had used my GPS system to try and find a pedicure shop close to where we were staying in NYC. One place that the GPS system had stated was very close by had relocated to New Jersey two years earlier...the other place, no longer existed period. Not sure how Verizon compiles the information but it is hardly comforting to know that its directories are at least two years old...and incomplete at that. The cavities in their system need some major dental work.
Third, on the way home, the GPS advised us to take the NJ Turnpike to Rt. 130 home. We knew that had to be wrong...I checked out 130 West on the Internet yesterday....speed limits of 25 mph abounded. So we had to turn around and go back in the direction of NYC to catch 78 West (note to self: when leaving NYC, stay in the Truck and Bus lane of I-95 South/NJ Turnpike). Two years ago Lina would have been pretty frustrated by me not initially overriding the wrong directions (I mistakenly thought that there would be an Exit for 78 off the Car lane of I-95 South/NJ Turnpike.) Now, she is calm and serene in the face of my directional blunders. I have broken the poor woman.
My buddy Rob awhile back warned me to not become too dependent on the GPS as it would lead me to not retain my ability to find my way around. I reminded him that he was making a specious assumption...that I had a sense of direction to start with...I don't.
So, the GPS is usually better than nothing...but I was not expecting it to be worse than nothing. And, based on my lack of sense of direction, that really kind of scares me. I am thankful that God's word is sure. In the words of Educational Psychology, it is both reliable (uniformly consistent) and valid (true). Note, it is possible for something to reliable and wrong (or reliably wrong, like my GPS was in NYC). It is not possible that something can be valid but not reliable. An interesting thing to ponder when one has spare time to reflect.
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