#6 Take a two hour detour while trying to drive a student home from a football game.

Because of budget cuts, the band did not always play at every football away game.  One particular year, this was one of those games...and I enjoyed the rare luxury of going to a football game just as a fan without wrangling 30 or so 12 to 18 year-olds along with me.  Not that I didn't enjoy going to games with the band...many fun memories and many more stories to be told.  However, I drove there alone this time.

As I may have mentioned before, this is a small rural town and school district. 

Teachers tend to spend more time with their students outside of class just because we see each other at community events, church, etc...  Many of my former students became good friends of mine whom I still enjoy being in contact with today.  This story involves one of those students.  A lovely young lady whose family worshiped at the same church I did.  We had several interests in common and enjoyed a riotous good time when we hung out.

So at the end of the football game she decided to ride back to town with me, her parents said, "yeah that's cool."  Those of you who know the geography of western Oklahoma will shake your heads in shame as you read the rest of this story.  We were playing against Thomas, OK south of our home town Mooreland, OK.  All you have to do is turn north on 183 and head home. 

In my defense...it was a dark cloudy night...with no moon in sight.  So I basically

thought I turned north onto highway 183 but I was actually not on the highway yet.  And I'm sure it didn't help that she and I were probably yakking and I wasn't paying as much attention to direction as I should have been.  Pretty soon I realized we were lost, but I had no idea which direction was north...no highway signs...just itty-bitty towns.  So we were lost and driving down dark country roads with bare scraggly tree branches reaching out to us from the side of the road like sinister mocking fingers.  It was kind of hilarious and scary all at the same time and we got a horrible case of the giggles.

I can hear you now, "Why don't you just use your GPS?"  Well, because we had no cell phones, no GPS, and unfortunately no map either.  Because it was such a cloudy night we could see the lights of a larger city reflecting off the clouds in the distance.  Following the eerie glow we finally drove into Weatherford.  Now, normally it would only take about 20 minutes to get to Weatherford from Thomas, but not the circuitous route we took!  By the time we got to Weatherford, we should have almost been at the student's house...so we stopped at a gas station to call them.  Since I finally knew where I was I had no trouble driving the hour and half that it took to get from Weathford to Mooreland.

I will never live that trip down, ever.  Her dad gave me a map the next time he saw me and said, "That better be in your car at all times!"  And he's been sure to remind me from time to time...as has the rest of town.  :)  So the moral of this story - simple:  Going through life without a map can waste a lot of your time.  BUT, God is still with us even when we take wrong turns down scary roads.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path."  Psalm 119:105

 "The Lord says, 'Do not fear, I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.  when you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!" Isaiah 43:1-3