Detour

Just 200 yards north of our driveway is a creek passing under the road. Recently, the property across the road sold and the new owner is building a horse farm. It's quite impressive. One of the problems on his property is the backup of the creek when we get a heavy rain. The culvert is too small so the creek gets out of its banks on his property.

Last Tuesday the county road department began replacing the metal pipes with a concrete box culvert. That was fun to watch. Cranes and bulldozers and backhoes. Big trucks carrying the pieces had to back into the job-site for about 300 yards. Most licensed drivers in America wouldn't stand a chance doing it but these guys did great.

The road crew dug out and replaced the culvert last week but the new surface is not being poured until this week. So the road block that stopped all but construction traffic remained in place over the weekend. Coming from the south, our house is the only one inside the road block. We felt special getting to drive around the road block. And a little guilty, too, since everyone else had to take a detour.

Since the road crews pulled out the heavy equipment Thursday, we have lived on the quietest road in America. Our own private drive. Nobody but us.

And a couple of cheaters! "No Through Traffic" means no through traffic! Rules are rules! But I saw two pickups head down to the culvert - no way to drive across because the road had been cut back several feet from the concrete boxes - then swerve to the left and make a way across the dry creek bed then back to the road on the other side. Cheaters!

I'm a by-the-book guy. If there is a rule for it I will most likely follow it. If there is a rule against it I will most likely obey it. Rules are in place to protect and guide people as they do things...like drive down the road.

But some people disregard the rules thinking they know better. Like the sight-seer that drove his car around the barricade. I guess he didn't believe the signs. He got down to the site, got out of his car, looked around, got back in his car, and went back the other way.

And some folks have the "you can't tell me what to do or not to do" and they just drive around the construction. I'd be surprised if the detour route takes more than two or three minutes extra, but I guess that's not the point for this crowd.

So anyway the road department is back at it this morning doing dirt work around the new culvert. An asphalt crew will probably show up today or tomorrow and in a few days the road will be open. The quietest road in America will return to being a drag strip.

Life is full of detours. Some are for our good and some are of our own making. Either way, God has a plan to help you through it. You can choose to go your own way or you can follow him. The journey and the destination will be dramatically impacted by your choice.