The
Road Trip
Recently my wife
went on a trip to Canada to visit her family.
She drove from Logan, Utah to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (Central, SK);
to Red Deer (above Calgary), Alberta; to Kalowna, British Columbia (South East
B.C.); to Vancouver Island on the East coast of B.C; to Olympia, Washington,
then a stop in Boise, Idaho to spend the last night with my brother, and
finally back to Logan, Utah. The trip was more than 3200 miles and took her
three weeks. To plan for the trip we got on Google maps and plotted her course
and I showed her how to use the GPS on her iPhone. She also had a stand-alone
GPS system and she had even purchased an Atlas so she could use the physical
maps as she went. We thought we had planned every detail so she would not have
any problems getting to each of her destinations, or so we thought.
As soon as she
crossed the border into Canada, her iPhone stopped working; not because of the
carrier but because her iPhone was an older model and the type of phone she had
did not work in Canada. She no longer had access to the technology she needed
to get her from one place to the next – her GPS. When she tried to use the
stand alone GPS, the maps were out of date and did not have the correct maps for
Canada. She only had the Atlas to help her find her way and those maps did not
have the detail she needed when she got into the towns to find her way to her family’s
homes. Fortunately, she did know her way around Prince Albert her first
destination because she grew up there and her family still lived on the family
farm that she was raised on so all she needed to do was get to Prince Albert
and she was fine.
Though inconvenient
the loss of her iPhone was as big of a problem as I thought. When she got to
her first stop she was able to call her family at then next stop and get
directions and she was able to call me each day and let me know how the trip
was going. Since cells phones are only about 30 years old and we both are older
than that we know what it is like to travel without one. It was inconvenient
but not impossible.
On her second
leg of the trip from Prince Albert to Red Deer in Alberta, she ran into the
next problem – no road signs. Even though she had the names of the streets she
was supposed to turn on, the streets were not marked and she ended up on a three-hour
side tour of Alberta before she found her way to Red Deer. The side tour ended
up being quite the adventure because a very large Moose (as she described it)
ran across the road in front of her car and then she came across a flock of
Snow Canadian Geese that she thought was absolutely beautiful.
While there were
several adjustments that needed to be made because of the technical difficulties
she managed to make it to each destination and have a wonderful time visiting
family and friends and eventually made it back home safely. It was a trip she
will always remember.
This is not the
first time we have experienced problems with GPS technology. A few years ago I
went on a trip to Chicago for some training for work and my wife went with me.
One day while I was in meetings she decided to go to the Chicago Museum of
Science and Industry. I programed the GPS with the address to the museum which
was on Lake Shore Drive. She took off and I went to my meeting. About two hours
later she called me and asked how long it was supposed to take to get to the
museum. I said about 45 minutes. When she told me she was still not there I asked
what the last sign was that she passed. She told me Des Moines, Iowa; she was
headed back to Salt Lake City! I told her to click on the return to start button
and head back to the hotel. When she got back I looked at the GPS and even
though I thought I had put in Lake Shore Drive, Chicago; it had defaulted to
Lake Shore Drive, Utah. Needless to say I still have a distrust of GPSs and their
accuracy.
We can compare
my wife’s road trip to our time here in mortality. There is a purpose for our
birth here at this time. We did not just pop into existence when we were born
and we will not cease to exist after we die. We lived before this life as
spirit children of our Heavenly Father and he provided a plan whereby we could
come here and gain physical bodies, develop faith in him and His Son, Jesus
Christ; learn to keep the commandments he gave us; and receive the ordinances
that would enable us to return to his presence and live with him eternally. Our
lives do not end at death, they will go on but the type of life we have there
will depend on the roads we travel and if we follow the proper route that will get
us to the final destination – back to Heavenly Father’s presence.
Many people have
no idea what their destination is, they are just driving along taking whatever
road they think looks interesting. Others may know the destination but have no
idea which road to take; they have no functioning GPS, their GPS does not have
the correct maps, their Atlas does not have the detail they need, or there are no road signs to follow. Others
may think that they are on the right road and are listening to the GPS
directions but do not realize they are in reality headed to the wrong “Lake
Shore Drive”, they get lost on a three-hour diversion because they think they
know the directions and don’t listen to the GPS, or they are not following the
maps or the directions that they were given.
All roads do not
lead to Heaven and the Savior has said that the way is straight and narrow. If
we do not follow the correct route we may find that when we arrive at our final
destination that it was not where they wanted to go. Michael Goodman speaking
to the students of BYU said: “We
are here on earth to learn what we need to learn so that we can become what we
are intended to become and return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father
and Mother for eternity". (“Become
a Seeker: They Way, the Truth, and the Life”) In other words we need to know what roads will take us on
our road trip that will lead us back to that destination to live with Heavenly
Father and we must avoid the side roads that will only lead us away from that destination.
The Lord has not
sent us here without the proper directions to get us back home to him. He has
given us a variety of GPS instruments, maps, and other things to help us along
the way. They come to us through the scriptures, living prophets, Apostles, and
other church leaders, our family, friends. He has provided commandments as road
signs to follow to keep us safe and provided us the Holy Ghost to help us stay
on the right road or to warn us if we make the wrong turn. He has provided all
of the ordinances that will qualify us to return and live with him.
Eventually like
my wife we will all return home from our road trip. If we use the “technology”
that the Lord has provides us we will arrive at the proper destination safely.
Your comments
and questions are welcome.
