Siri And Me

I stalled at the light.

Again, Siri said to turn right for I-405 North.

I looked up and to the right was the sign clearly marked for I-405 South.

She repeated herself. I yelled back that it said South. "What are you doing? Where are you trying to take me?"

Because this wasn't the first time she gave me dubious directions. I had half a mind to cross the street and take the exit for the real I-405 North but I didn't. She kept saying my exit was to the right. She kept saying it was this right. Not the right coming up or the left where I thought the correct one was. She said this right, right next to me, right now: take it.

"God, don't You forsaken me at 10:30 at night!" I screamed as I, against my better judgement, followed Siri's directions.

It was dark and I was tired and I was in a city that I haven't explored in the daylight so for once I decided to listen to what Siri had to say.

But I did it begrudgingly. Every few inches my car went, I threatened Siri that if she wasn't taking me home, I would personally bury her and come up with a better version of GPS.

I'm smart enough, I could definitely do a better job.

This isn't the first time that I have had a heated conversation with Siri. These past few months I contemplated throwing her out the window because she is so frustrating!

Our hate-hate relationship started when I moved across country to L.A.

I knew what I was getting into, driving from Florida to California, but dang every time I looked at Siri, her blue dot moved like an inch after an hour of driving! That didn't make sense. All these mountains and trees and grass passing me by and Siri still telling me I have thousands of miles left...

e.g 2,000 miles left to destination-hour passes-1,997 miles left to destination.

What you talking about Siri?!



Despite the many headaches, the many detours and the many missed exits I have had to endure with Siri being my guide, God has taught me a lot through this contraption.

I am a control freak. I read the directions beforehand (I try to memorize them but my brain doesn't work that way anymore) and then I hold my phone in my hand always double-checking what Siri spits out. Which is dangerous because my eyes aren't even on the road, the road that is on a mountain most of the time.

Yea, I drive on mountains with no hands sometimes: I am fearless.

And yes, I do have Siri speak out loud but her voice doesn't make me feel comfortable especially when she thinks it's all good to tell me this next exit, the exit that I am about to pass by is the exit I need to take and I'm 3 lanes away...

Siri, where they do that at?

But this doesn't even compare with the trouble I have with God.

On many occasions, I try to take the map from His hands, thinking that I can do a better job than Him.

  • I take detours and end up lost.
  • I always second guess His directions especially when the signs in the physical world don't match up with what's being said.
  • I get restless and bored when the journey becomes too long, causing me to doubt if I am actually going the right way, if I am actually seen by Him.
  • Then I always feel frazzled and rushed with those last minute warnings to go a certain route.

This walk with God is exhausting and it doesn't have to be that way.

I need to trust Him. I need to have faith.
  • I need to trust that even when I make mistakes, when the world turns against me that He will make everything work for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
  • I need to trust that He is sovereign, that His word will be regardless of what's happening in my life. It will happen the way He said it will (2 Corinthians 5:7).
  • I need to trust that I am always on His mind, that He hasn't forgotten about me (Psalm 56:8). I also need to trust that even on the long trips, when nothing is happening, I am on the right path (Proverbs 16:9).
  • And I need to trust that when He does call me that He will grace me with the ability to do His will (1 Corinthians 15:10, Philippians 4:132 Corinthians 12:9).
If I could just do that, trust a bit more, my life would be so much easier!

Because to be honest, when I intervene, I'm not helping at all: I'm hindering His plans. I slow things down and more time is added to the wait as He cleans up my mess.

And all that could be avoided if I had faith because I'm not good at the patience thing either.

But I thank God that He is still faithful when I get my control-freak on. He will never give up on me even when I am faithless. He is still there for me through all my hangups.

And God is still there through yours too, no matter what. Don't ever forget that.

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