Because we really don't know how long the trip will take …

True story:

A few years ago we were out to dinner in downtown Portland with family the day before Thanksgiving. We were supposed to pick up Jeff’s brother at the airport later in the evening, and knew traffic would be bad. So, halfway through dinner, we checked Google Maps and clicked “show traffic” to give us our estimation. The route was red the whole way up, and the estimate was:

4 hours.

No joke. 4 hours. What on earth? We were only about 10 miles away, how on earth could it take that long? We shook our heads and figured traffic must be horrendous out there. After weighing our options we realized there was no way we could get Jeff’s brother in time, so we texted him and asked him to hop on the Max and come to us, as it would be 4 hours before we could make it to PDX.  About an hour later, he arrived, found the Max, and traveled across Portland with his wife and two small kids, finally arriving at Pioneer Square at 9pm.

Meanwhile, we finished our dinner and made our way outside to find our car. Surprisingly, we saw no traffic. We pulled the car out and started making our way along the street.

No traffic.

We picked up Jeff’s brother, navigated our way home, and, to our surprise, made it home in 30 minutes.

No traffic.

How could Google Maps be so wrong? Finally, a little light went on in my mind. I picked up Jeff’s smart phone. Turned it on. Looked closely. Yup:

Walking Directions.

Yup.

We’re still laughing. I love that instead of just looking out the window of the restaurant to see the traffic, we relied so heavily on our Google Maps that we had no idea what the reality was.

The truth is: There’s just no way to know how long it will take. No one can tell you. And the best bet is to just get out there and get on the road. 

We discovered this on our road trip last week as well. A 5-hour drive turned into a 6-hour drive because of an unexpectedly long Ferry wait. I had our departure time mapped out down to the minute, and yet the reality is We can make great estimates, but there’s just no telling how long it will take.

But there’s good news.

God has enough grace for however long the journey is.

I’m a hopelessly optimistic estimator. 

Things take a long time. It takes a long time to build a relationship, to write a book, to train kids, to establish rapport and build trust. Everything worth doing just takes a long time. And the truth is, We don’t have any idea how long it will take. When we’re on a journey, in our efforts to control, we’ll usually try to find answers, estimates, methods that make us feel like we know what’s ahead.

We can spend all our time trying to figure out how long or how hard the journey will be.

But the best bet is just to get out there and get on the road. 

Love whoever’s in front of you. Do the next thing. Accomplish the task at hand. Finish the chore. Make the current relationship right. Say you’re sorry first. Instead of sitting around trying to figure out the future, we’re better off just getting out there on the road and trusting that God has enough grace for however long the journey is.

I guess that’s the moral of the story. Oh, and be sure to click “Driving Directions” next time you use Google Maps. Thanks for reading.