The Direction Sign

Call it a Sign Post, Sign Board or Signage, I'm sure we're attempting to describe the same thing/concept.

Have you ever found yourself looking for direction under any circumstance? The Direction Sign is one of the greatest inventions of mankind and has proved tremendously helpful saving time energy and stress to the "lost" or anyone hoping to find their way to a location. Recently, I went for a meeting at Teeside. Later in the day after the meeting, about 60 miles to the end of my 3 hours 45 minutes drive back home, the weather got so bad, and my Sat-Nav lost reception. Here was I in the middle of nowhere hoping to pass the "no signal" region and the Sat Nav would pick up again. No it didn't. I was so reliant on my Nav, I just kept driving on and waiting on this piece of normally intelligent piece of equipment. I wasn't checking the signs, I just carried on. After wandering about for about 15 minutes without any hope that this thing would take me home, I decided to go back to the old way... I followed the direction signs and although I eventually went through the long route, I got home and in one piece!

Sometime in 2007, I had just finished an evening paper. Outside the exam hall and towards the Bus-Stop filled with "examinees" with mixed reactions. It was time for post-examination evaluations and self re-assessment. Voices with different pitches and tones rented the air. It was a bit of a task and struggle trying to hear myself at the top of the myriad of voices competing for space in the air as we waited at the bus-stop by the open field just in front of the sports centre where we all just got 'examined'...It was reminiscent of popular market places in the part of the world where I come from.

"Oh, the time was too short"..."I wrote so much my wrist aches!"...these were some of the common comments that filled my ears. Obviously, it was a good one for some people. Generally the comments reflected optimism and self-satisfaction from majority around except for some few who claimed they went "blank" in the hall.

The crowd was massive. All waiting and hoping to get on the next bus to the Business School campus from where we could all find our ways to our different final destinations. I looked around and it occurred to me that actually, just one bus would be coming and the bus would have been three quarter filled if not totally filled by the time it gets to this stop. That means we may have to struggle for space when the bus arrives which implies that some of us waiting may not get on the bus. While I was doing the calculations in my head, I also realised that out of the people who'd be lucky to get on the bus, some may have to stand. I took a look at my side and saw my friend. She was my classmate but her new status conferred my friend's surname on her. She was heavily pregnant. You could tell that she had had a day and the only ray of joy lining her dark face came from the satisfaction from within based on how well she thought she performed in the examination. She was fagged out! I offered her a space to sit on my Indian friends back!...expectedly she slapped me on the shoulder and reminded me she is somebody's wife...I laughed and told her and my other friends around that if we hope to get on the bus when it arrives then we have to position ourselves strategically to enable us get what I called "first movers advantage" (we had been waiting for nearly 20 minutes). Trust me, that is one of the advantages of being a Nigerian. You're able to calculate and adapt yourself to any situation FAST! I pointed at a spot where I felt the bus would stop and would be a vantage position for US to get on - most likely the door would open at that spot. My friends saw wisdom in my words and strategy. They obeyed without attracting any attention. The bunch of Smarties that we are, we continued our discussions in our smaller group within this group watching and waiting for the bus.

At last the bus came and we started boarding one after the other. As I predicted, there was just few spaces left on the bus and the driver could only take a certain number of people in addition to those already on board for "health and safety" reasons. He motioned them in one after the other. ALL my friends got on board. It got to my turn and the guy said, "Sorry mate, the bus is full!". Pity and unbelief gripped my pregnant friend. She didn't get a seat. She was one of the standees but at least she was on board. She gestured at me for a space on her back. I waved at them as the bus moved off. Then I realised that I wasn't supposed to be standing at that stop in the first instance. There is a shorter route to where I lived. If I went with the school bus, I would change bus twice before arriving at my destination. Whereas, if I just walked out of the gate which was less than 5 minutes walk away, I could get a bus to the city centre where I could take another bus home. I could actually walk home from the city centre. My best route would require just one bus change and bingo, I'm home! Faster, shorter...Very funny.

Immediately, the lesson hit me. Romans 8..."And we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love God...." But as I reflected on this God took me through another lesson. I remembered one of my popular lines as an evangelist on campus during my undergrad days. When I preach to believers, I try to remind us all that we should try not to be like the Direction Sign who directs people to their right destinations but never leaves the same spot itself!

I realised that I could be like that; show people the way of salvation and never get on the bus myself! It was one of the scariest realities that'd ever dawn on me.

It became clear to me that the kingdom of God had just played itself in a drama to me and I was one of the actors. ALL of us at that Bus Stop had just finished taking an examination. By virtue of our studentship at the university, each person believed they "qualified" to get on the bus and so waited for it. Few amongst us knew that waiting at the bus stop was not enough. You need to be strategically positioned to get on the bus because there was limited space. Some of those few of us were not selfish about our inklings, we shared with other people and showed them the opportunity but at the end, it wasn't God's best.

The analytical mind can draw a world of lessons out of this seemingly simple scenario and I can go on and on. But the Spirit of God specifically taught me two lessons from that experience. (a) The race is not to the swift. Fight the good fight, so that at the end, you yourself do not become an outcast in God's kingdom. (b) God always gives you a way out even when you have missed your chance. A lot of things cloud our thoughts that we fail to see God's plans for us and how they better our own plans. If I went straight to the stop by the gate, I would have got home a lot earlier than I did. But I got carried away with the excitement of the moment talking with friends; I forgot that wasn't necessarily the best position for me to get to my destination.

In all, I was glad that I still did what I did because if I had left for my correct Bus Stop immediately after the exams, I'd get home early but my pregnant friend may have waited for no les than 40 minutes at that stop for her bus without a guarantee that she'd still get on the bus considering the crowd and her indisposition.

Another lengthy one you'd say but it's worth sharing.

Catch y'all nex time and see you right there at the top! Drop a comment if this impacts you in any way...

Peace!