a ride in the mystery machine...

Not my will.  Your will.

Ugh!!  Sounds so good in theory, but in practice, a feat impossible short of the Holy Spirit.

I am so foolish. I try to see where God is going and what he is going to do. 

Just like my kids, I climb into God's car, buckle up, and start to try and guess where we are going. 

God doesn't tell me where we are going, so I look out the window and recognize landmarks. 

"I know where we are going!" I exclaim.  "We are going to...."

Nope.  Not going there.  I look to God to tell me where we are headed, but he just looks over, smiles, and says, "it's a surprise."

*sigh*

I ask if He can give me a hint, but that question is just met with a firm but loving glance. 

Surveying the outside landscape, yet again it comes to me and I shout yet again, this time ever more sure, "I know where we are going!!"

Certainly this is our destination.  We rarely go here, but when we do it has been so special.  

Oh the joy, the fun and... the destination passes by.

.......*sigh*......

At this point I have no idea where we are.  I've never been here.  As far as I am concerned, it doesn't even exist and if it does, I don't care to go because I've never been so I am pretty sure I never want to go.

This drive....it is taking forever.  I've got to stop and use the bathroom.  

"Are we there yet?" Was only cute the first three times I asked.  Now, it's just getting old and met with a stern but somehow compassionate glance.

*sigh*

I hunch over in the seat, slump down below the window sill and know we will never ever ever get to where we are going.

And just then, just like that...God finds a parking spot, puts the car in park, and announces..."We are here."

I look around and recognize nothing. 

"What is this place?" I asked "I've never been here?"

"I have been here many times and now I am bringing you.  You are going to love it!" God exclaims.  

He hugs me, picks me up, and holds me.  I trust him.

"Dreams are tawdry when compared with the leading of God, and not worthy of the aura of wonder we usually surround them with. God only doeth wonders. He does nothing else. His hand can work nothing less."   -Jim Elliot