Do You Even Know Where You Are Going?

I am the not-so-proud parent of a five-year-old backseat driver. This can happen when you let your little one ride around in the car as you teach your older children to drive, which is exactly what Son4 has done. So from time to time Son4 asks me questions like these: Are your lights on? What does that sign say? Are you going faster than 60? This generally amuses me, except for when he constantly announces the read-out on the speedometer. But the question that amuses me less is the one when he asks me whether I know where I'm going.

The fact that he has an amazing sense of direction only makes matters worse. If you want to get from Point A to Point B around here, you could probably pop him in the car and he could tell you where to turn. That sense of direction is a wonderful thing, but sometimes I like to take a different route, and that's when we run into trouble. That's when he'll ask me: Do you even know where you're going? Just imagine his voice — it is full of doubt and disdain, like, are you the idiot running the show? This is preposterous of course. I mean — does he?! Furthermore, do I have any interest in getting lost? No. The answer is — Yes, I DO know where I am going.

But in life, I think we ask God this question all the time. We look at the things happening around us, and we think, "Dear God, do you even know where you are going? Do you SEE where we are here?" Honestly, it's a pretty arrogant question, isn't it?