When the Center of Somewhere Feels Like the Middle of Nowhere

GPS. Global Positioning System. You would think from that vantage point, the dumb thing might actually understand where I REALLY am!

Sometimes the navigation system goes awry -and though you may not truly be ‘in the middle of nowhere’, you certainly do not recognize the middle of wherever it is you are.

More than once, my friend Gert (complete with Australian accent and vernacular) has led me to a place that was wholly unfamiliar. Oh, sure, there were gas stations aplenty and paved streets (sorta)….but for me, it still felt like the middle of nowhere. Desolate. Disorienting. Frustrating. Frightening.

Navigating a faith journey sometimes feels like I’m on a trip with Gert. I pull out of the driveway with complete and utter confidence. I blindly follow the robotic ‘recalculating’ without question. And yet, I find myself in at the center of somewhere that feels like the middle of nowhere. I can see landmarks – proofs that I am going as I need to go. But man, does it feel desolate sometimes…like the middle of nowhere…and no amount of recalculating will ever take me to the intended destination.

And, admittedly, I find myself doing what all frustrated drivers do….blaming the GPS. Cursing her. Wanting to rip her off my dash and pummel her droning voice into a million little technologically charged pieces. Shut.Her.Up. But I know if I do that, a) I will never find my way to the right location, and b) I have squandered my investment.

So I continue to make the instructed turns – “in point three miles, turn left” – and trust that, from a much broader perspective than the one I have behind the wheel, Someone knows where I’m going.

Author: Darren Sutton

I've been in student ministry nearly 30 years…which generally just confirms how much I still don't know. Some days I'm the pizza-eating, over-responding, teaching-on-the-fly, desperate-for-volunteers, frustrated-with-co-workers youth leader that we all are. And sometimes…I knock it out of the park. I'm everywhere on social media that you are! View all posts by Darren Sutton

3 thoughts on “When the Center of Somewhere Feels Like the Middle of Nowhere”

Yes, I am been to the middle of nowhere. Not fun especially if you are late or it’s getting dark. Kind of like getting older in youth ministry :)

Feeling like a beggar and useless, lilies smashed along with my heart, clothes torn, sense of direction gone out the window; I need a new compass.
* laughs*
I have learned many things, still more I’ve yet to. As the world seems to crumble around me, there is one thing so deeply embedded within that nothing and no one can take away; my light through it all… love. And somehow as I ponder my due, I cheer up a bit knowing… yes knowing, life is so wonderful because I see Him in it.