Downpours and detours

"And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?' And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush, be still.' And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?'"

-Mark 4:37-40

"The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." -Proverbs 16:9

Today was mostly a travel day, yet so much eventful stuff happened that I don't know how to fit it all into a single post that can be read in one sitting. So I will try my best to condense my day (Postscript: I failed, so this is a long post).

I woke up this morning with a choice: take the short route to Memphis or add an extra 30 minutes to the drive and make a stop in Nashville to see what the post-flood city looks like. I opted for the latter choice and I was Nashville bound. Along the way, I took a look at my map and saw a city that caught me off guard: Elizabethtown, Kentucky! For those of you who don't know, Elizabethtown is the setting of the amazing Cameron Crowe movie "Elizabethtown".

Spoiler Alert (Skip to below the photo if you haven't seen the movie but plan to): At the end of the movie, Drew Baylor embarks on a musically enhanced road trip, and since I am currently embarking on a musically enhanced road trip, I had to make a short stop in the town. It doesn't look much like it did in the movie. (I want to give a special shout out to Darcy for her amazing mix that I put on as I was leaving Elizabethtown as it almost perfectly fit the mood of my road trip and of that movie!)

When I got to Nashville, for some reason I changed my mind and opted not to go into the city, so I continued down I-40 toward Memphis. As I was driving down I-40, a realization sprung to mind: the last time I was on this highway 5 years ago, I was driving back to Texas after dropping out of UVA. I got a little emotional and started tearing up a little bit thinking about UVA (Yes, men cry sometimes too...). While driving on I-40, two notable things happened: 1) There were sporadic downpours of rain and 2) There was a wreck on the highway that caused over a 2 1/2 hour delay. After sitting in a dead standstill on the highway for 20 minutes, I decided to make a U-turn across the grass. I stopped at the nearest gas station, bought a Tennessee map, and took a backroad way into Memphis. I saved myself a great deal of time with that decision.

As I meditated on those two incidents: the downpours and the detour, I realized that the same things happens in life. Sometimes major storms wreck and ravage our lives. UVA was one such storm. Sometimes, the storm gets so strong that you don't think you will survive. You are so blinded by what's right in front of you that you can't see the sunlight in the distance. Jesus' disciples were so distraught in a storm that Jesus had to rebuke them for not trusting that God would help them through it. Consider this: the storms in our lives are actually caused by God. Why then do we have so much trouble trusting that he will deliver us from the storm, just as he delivered us into it. When you trust in God through the storms, the sunlight on the other side is so much brighter!

Furthermore, sometimes detours happen in life. Dropping out of UVA was a major detour in my life. I should have graduated from college in 2007, but God had a detour for me. In the nearly four years as a college dropout, I matured and grew so much. I have learned a great deal about life, and I wouldn't change anything that has happened to me, because all of my experiences create the exact me who is sitting here writing this blog. In the end, however, the detour gets you to the same spot, but usually takes longer. My college detour took a little over 3 years, but I am almost to my destination! Without the detour though, some of the amazing sights may have never been seen.

Look at all the pretty lights!

I finally made it to Memphis! I really wish I had booked to stay another night, because Memphis on a Monday night is significantly better than Memphis on a Friday. The clubs are less crowded, the music is better, and the setting is more intimate. Beale Street is AMAZING! It's like a sonic explosion of great music. Imagine this: pretend you are sitting in the middle of a room that has a 5.1 surround sound speaker system. In each of the 5 speakers (ignore the subwoofer in the analogy) is different music. That is what standing in the middle of Beale Street is like. I have already seen 4 different blues bands play, and I'm about to go listen to some more.

Music goes on until 3 am, but I have an early morning tomorrow, so I probably won't stay out that late! New Orleans tomorrow!
-Patrick