With apologies to Robert Frost,
Two routes diverged on Google Maps, and I—
I took the one less traveled by.

I attended a presbytery-sponsored workshop Saturday, and it was well-worth the 85-mile drive to get there. I had not been to the church in northwest Ohio where the workshop was held, so I asked Google Maps to show me the way. Instead of the closest 85-mile route, however, Google recommended a 101-mile route that would save ten minutes of travel time. Once I hit I-469 north of Fort Wayne, my journey would be mostly by interstate or four-lane highway. 70 MPH.

Two routes diverged on Google Maps, and I— I took the one less traveled by. County roads and state highways, I never saw four lanes, and the best I could do was 55 MPH. Or so. But I had to slow down as I drove through Hicksville and Ottawa, Ohio, pretty little towns. Mostly, though, my road less travelled took me through farm country.  White framed farmhouses, red painted barns, and tall silos. And fields, mile after mile of fields. Some of the fields were still littered with the dry remains of last year’s corn crop, others were freshly plowed, and a few of them shimmered green in the early spring sunshine – a new crop, soybeans maybe?

Twenty minutes wasted on the Saturday of the presbytery workshop. I took a slightly different non-recommended route home that took me right trough downtown Defiance, Ohio. A curious name, I thought. Wikipedia answered my question once I was home: The city contains the site of Fort Defiance, built by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne in August 1794, during the Northwest Indian War, at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers. Wikipedia also let me know that General Wayne earned the nickname Mad for his exploits during the American Revolution and his crazy, but wildly successful, storming of the British stronghold at Stony Point, New York, in 1779.

There is a plaque in a park marking the site of the old fort in Defiance, Ohio. I may stop by to see it next time a trip to a presbytery workshop takes me through the town.

Two routes diverged on Google Maps, and I— I took the one less traveled by. My defiance of a Google Maps recommendation does not come easily. Google Maps are programmed to recommend the quickest, most efficient route from Point A to Point B. The speed limit through Hicksville and Ottawa and Defiance is 25 MPH and the city street departments have put up stop lights at the important intersections. You may be able to get a good look at a stately old courthouse, but 25 MPH and stoplights are not conducive to an efficient use of time. Google Maps always recommends interstates and four lane highways. Who cares about an extra 16 miles when you can save ten minutes? Who cares about farm country and stately old courthouses?

Over the years, I have become a very efficient consumer of time. I have learned how to squeeze just a few more minutes of productivity from every hour. I get a lot done. Inefficiency bothers me.

When I got in the car to head for the presbytery workshop, then, I tapped the gray not recommended route on Google Maps with fear and trembling. In the words of the poet, that made all the difference. The morning drive into the rising sun and the afternoon drive as shadows began to fall were glorious. I thought about fields still fallow and others already shimmering green. Nothing profound as I recall, but good thoughts. Soothing thoughts in our troubled world. I wondered how Defiance got its name and when its courthouse may have been built. Not a thought given to cars in the other lane speeding by at 80 MPH.

Now, lest you think I have gone all “stop and smell the flowers,” I haven’t. I still think productivity and efficiency are important. In ministry. Frankly, I know some pastors who ought to quit smelling the flowers quite so much and get to work.  Sometimes it makes sense to take the interstate.

I’ll call it common grace. That trip through farm country, all 85 miles of it, was a gift, a gift of inefficiency. Thanks be to God.