Roberto, the Uber driver, cruised slowly up and down the avenue, searching for a nonexistent roadway to my house. With each pass, he became more frustrated. A street had to be there—his company supplied GPS said so. On his fourth pass, he spied me sprinting across the empty lot and waving my arms.
“This happens every time I call an Uber,” I tried to explain. “Your GPS map is wrong. To get to my house, you need to go back to the main road, turn left, then go to the roundabout and take the third exit, then…”
“Hold it,” he said. “That’s too confusing. Get in and lead me there.”
As we drove to the airport, I had time to contemplate the failure of UberMaps and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Like a befuddled Uberite, I have followed the guidance of culture, looking for roads that don’t exist. “It has to be here, everyone says so,” I tell myself. But those roads don’t exist, and no amount of believing will make them suddenly appear.
When I finally accepted this conclusion, I was met by a man who claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His directions are good, but my memory is poor. “Was that right, left, right, or left, right, left?” My new leader has sent his Spirit to get in the car with me, and now I don’t get lost so often. Someday, I may even let him drive.
Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)