Follow the leader…one of my favorite games as a child and one of my favorite hits by Eric B. and Rakim. I was reminded of the term follow the leader while driving home from work one day.

On a sunny, May day, I was stopped about two miles from my house by a road construction crew. There was a gentleman braving the 80 degree Alabama heat and intoxicating smell of roadwork to stand outside and stop drivers from passing through as other workers paved the road. The smell of concrete was intensely strong, and the wait time while the young man bobbed his head and held up a tall stop sign seemed to take forever.

Finally, the mid-day safety patrolman received word that we could pass through, and a white truck approached. The driver of the white Ford truck motioned with his hands for the waiting car to follow him. The car in front of me and I followed him from the dark, smooth, newly paved road we were on to a pile of uncomfortable, rocky pavement. As I endured the bumpy journey and recalled how long I had to wait to even start moving in traffic again I thought, “I should have just gone another way.” Just as I was about to get irritated, a stretch of smooth, newly paved road appeared again. As if he or she was reading my mind, the driver in front of me switched to the paved road. I did too. The crew driver of the white truck didn’t switch over to the smoother path, but stayed the course, bopping along on the rocky road. To me, this was weird since I assumed we’d reach the end of the road construction.

Low and behold, and snatched straight out of a life lesson from the Lord, I noticed a big, black piece of massive equipment sitting about 500 yards ahead. You guessed it. It was on the smooth road and would have been blocking our path to our final destination. Plus it was the bearer of the stinky stuff! So, like little soldiers, the other car and I quickly dipped back down to the rocky road, following the white Ford pickup making it safely to Saddle Lake (my neighborhood).

The moral to this story is: The Lord knows what’s ahead.  He doesn’t mind doing whatever it takes to make sure we reach our final destination safely and sound. He’ll do that even if it means leading us temporarily down bumpy roads in order to reach smooth ground.

@AngelaMMoore316