The Way Seemed Right
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. – Psalm 32:8
An urgent phone call directed us to the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon. Our new
baby grandson had become seriously ill and was being treated there. Several different levels of parking lots surround the hospital, and we drove from
one lot to another until we finally located a parking place. Quickly, we walked to the nearest entry. Inside the foyer we found an elevator, walked
in, and pushed the button for the ninth floor. The door closed. As we stood there, I remember thinking, This is the quietest elevator I’ve ever been
on. A moment later, the door opened and we stepped out. Concerned about our grandson and busy talking, we did not notice that we had exited the elevator
on the same floor we had entered it—the elevator had not gone anywhere! Still busy talking, we walked down a corridor and missed a directional
sign. After walking quite a distance, we stopped and asked for help.
When we finally arrived at our grandson’s room, we found to our relief that he was going to be fine. We visited at some length with our son and his wife,
and then headed back to the elevator. Stepping in, I pushed the button for the first floor. When the door opened, we were confronted by what appeared
to be basement storage. Then we tried the third floor—the cafeteria is located there. So, back to the ninth floor we went. There, a receptionist
showed us a detailed map and we realized that the ninth floor was the level where we had entered. Our car was parked not far from that very entry.
From the time we had parked the car and entered the hospital, we had been distracted by our concerns. There were arrows, titles, and room numbers, as well
as a sign that stated “Ninth Floor.” Not paying attention to any of these helps along the way became our undoing.
In this case, taking so many wrong turns ended in laughter. However, wrong turns in our spiritual walk are anything but humorous. They can result in immense
stress and heartache, and prevent us from progressing spiritually. Our Heavenly Father has carefully set out instructions to keep us located and to
provide for a successful spiritual journey through life, and we must not allow ourselves to become distracted and miss those signals from Him. As we
determine to focus our attention on the instructions in His Word, we are assured of reaching our desired destination of Heaven!