I admit it. I am directionally challenged. Take me out of the 12 mile radius that encompasses the town I live near, and I couldn’t find my way out of a paper sack! Even with a compass on my rear view mirror I can still get turned around. So it should have been no surprise to me when I decided to take a more “direct route” home than the one I took to my destination I found myself...well, lost.

I made a trip to Wichita on Friday to purchase needed scrap book papers for a project our volunteers are working on, only to find the shop had closed. It had moved to a new location...on the other side of the city! No problem, with directions from our daughter who had lived here for 3 years, I was able to find it nearly 30 minutes later. I did not want to drive through that traffic, or construction, again. Soooo...I took a east bound street thinking that I would eventually run into something familiar. I had it in my mind that I would stop at a Barnes & Noble before leaving town to get a soy latte and some relief before my 1 and a half hour drive home.  

Forty minutes later I did finally see something familiar, a turnpike sign! At this point I decided that the latte and the bathroom could wait. I’d better get on a road I knew quick. Once I was traveling the right direction it dawned on me that there was a McDonald’s about 30 miles ahead, I could stop there!  

Once I parked and got out I thought I heard someone calling my name! It was barely audible, and I almost ignored it. Who would I know here? At the turnpike? Something made me look around. And behold! To my left a car was backing out of a parking space. I looked closer to see a familiar face behind the wheel! There she was, a young international student from Kenya who had gone to college in our town, and attended our church, waving back at me! I’d not seen her in over 8 months and here we were getting reconnected in the most unlikely of places.  

I was so tickled at this unexpected encounter. I was smiling so big as I entered the rest stop and others were smiling back. I just kept thinking about what a blessing I had just experienced. After taking care of my business, with a spring still in my step, I exited...out the wrong door! Or was it???