When Paulette and I moved to Ocala, we found the street names to be very confusing. There were streets, avenues, roads, courts, places, circles, loops, lanes, and terraces. There were also compound names: street road, court road, terrace circle, and court road terrace loop to name a few. Well, OK, I made the last one up, but I’m sure it exists somewhere in the county. We did figure out a few things: avenues generally ran north-south, streets ran east-west. And, there could be four streets with the same name – one for each quadrant of the county.

Finally I went to the county website and found a document explaining the system; I still don’t understand it. It said that the purpose of the system was to increase the efficiency of 911 emergency responses. From an address they can almost pinpoint GPS coordinates of the house.

In the years since we moved here I’ve adjusted pretty well to the street plan, and I am even comforted by the potentially quicker emergency response times. However, I still fondly remember streets and roads with real names. For example, in my home county in Indiana, the north-south roads have names of trees; from east to west they are Ash, Birch, Cedar, Dogwood, Elder . . . , Walnut , and they’re exactly a mile apart.

If you think that Marion County streets are complicated, think about the twists and turns we face as we journey through life. We sometimes go in circles, hit dead ends, and make wrong turns. As we travel along we continually face new choices, while at other times we don’t feel that we have anywhere to turn. In contrast to Marion County, where the naming is merely complicated, it’s as if there are no street signs at all.

In one important way our life journey is far  better than the roads in Marion County. We have God to turn to for guidance; He’s better than any earthly GPS. We still have to make the decisions and can make wrong turns, but when we ask, He illumines our paths and helps us see through the fog. To see one of his promises of guidance, read Isaiah 42:16 and remember: God will guide you for He loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, and along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16