\n<\/p>\n
This day was no different. So after our Circle Up I struck out on my bicycle with my Garmin. I turn right, left or go straight whenever my Garmin tells me to do so.<\/p>\n
My Garmin is my bike friend and has reliably gotten me to all my destinations for the last 10 years. I have ridden over 10,000 miles with my Garmin. I trust my Garmin. The day I am going to tell you about was no different.<\/p>\n
So, Neil, our trip leader, said we would head north out of town. My Garmin told me to do just that. I followed all of the turns my Garmin told me to make without question. I did until I realized that I was riding west instead of east.<\/p>\n
I asked myself \u201cWhy would Neil the trip leader, have us go west to then go east?\u201d<\/p>\n
Our route for the day was to ride from Labelle, FL to Homestead, FL for a total of 88 miles. I had stopped along the way in a small community. It was freezing cold and windy.<\/p>\n
It was at this point I realized something was wrong. My Garmin was not communicating to me in the way it normally did and it was making weird noises. I checked my cell phone to look at the map but guess what? No cell reception.<\/p>\n
I knew I was off the route and had to somehow figure out how to find the route. I had a route sheet but where was I? I was in the middle of some of Florida\u2019s beautiful landscape filled with fields of vegetables and an assortment of trees. I was on a road that appeared to go for miles. I was 15 miles the wrong direction from my destination.<\/p>\n
Rather than panicking I tried to figure out what was going on with my Garmin by turning it on and off and fussing with the settings. When that didn\u2019t seem to fix my Garmin I decided to head back to LaBelle, FL where I started out.<\/p>\n
Fortunately I had placed a chalk mark at each of my turns. I could follow the chalk marks like following bread crumbs back to my starting point! It would be 15 miles back to the starting point for a total of 30 additional miles that were not planned on for the day.<\/p>\n
Once I returned to LaBelle, I quickly realized two realities. I would need to use my route sheet without the aid of my Garmin. How disappointing! I was also 1.5 hours behind the group. I would never catch up with the group. With these realities I settled into my bike seat accepting I had a long ride for the day; 108 miles instead of the 88!!<\/p>\n
In the end it was a challenging ride, character building. I found myself thinking about my relationship with God. Do I always trust God in the same way as i trust my Garmin? This is a challenge I am often faced with.<\/p>\n
I have a strong need to be in control. Turning life over to God means letting go and letting God. Lesson learned: Check your Garmin for accuracy before takeoff!! Continue to work on letting go of needing to have the control over everything and let God do more of the heavy lifting!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n