U-Turns Allowed

Not long after we moved to this area, I joined our church softball team. They played in a league in the next town over. The first few weeks were challenging for me to figure out the best way to get there. I have always had a tendency to just keep driving thinking I will accidentally come upon the road I need to be on. Amazingly enough, that does happen a lot. The only time it becomes an issue is when I have a specific time I have to be somewhere, like a softball game.
On my way to the first game, I was on the highway for awhile when I realized I should have been going west, but I was going east. I needed to turn around. It seemed as though I had driven for miles without seeing an exit. I then saw a turn-around on the highway with a sign that said, “Authorized Personnel Only.” It looked like my only chance for miles to turn around, so I made a u-turn.
I had my two girls in the car with me. They were 4 and 7 at the time. My seven year old could read the sign. She asked me if I was “authorized.” What was I going to say? So, of course, I lied. I told her that all moms are “authorized personnel.” Well, she decided to call me on it. She said that she believed that only policemen were considered “authorized.”
My four year old had just learned in pre-school about confessing your sins and that you need to do that not only to God, but to someone who has authority over you like your parents, or…a policeman.
She started yelling at me and telling me that I was not authorized and I broke the law and she needed to tell someone for me. It was her duty for my sake. I thought for sure that if we didn’t discuss it any longer she would forget about it and maybe we could discuss it later.
Many of the women on the softball team had kids. All the older kids would watch the younger ones and they had a blast hanging out with each other while their moms played softball. Just as I was up to bat, I looked over to see where the girls were and my four year old was talking to the security guard. I took my turn batting and popped out to centerfield.
As I was walking off of the field, the security guard called my name and motioned for me to come over to him. He explained to me that my daughter told him about my indiscretion and he scolded me for setting a bad example for my children. I promised him, and my daughters, that I would never make an illegal u-turn again.
Fortunately, God encourages u-turns. I need that opportunity, sometimes daily, to turn back to Him when I am being willfully disobedient. Most of the time it is my attitude that causes me to act more like me and less like Him. God tells us in Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.”
Sometimes it is really difficult to know when you have taken a u-turn in the wrong direction. God will put people in our lives that can help us get back on the right path. Sometimes it is our job to gently let our friends and loved ones know they have strayed from the path. James encourages us in James 5:19-20, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.”
It’s okay to make u-turns in life, as long as the arrow points back to God!