Katy and I live in a semi-two-bedroom apartment. Officially, It’s a one bedroom with study, which was the main selling point for me in chosing this apartment. I love having a study. There’s something about the idea of closing yourself off in a room dedicated to—well, study. For me, that means reading, writing, praying, meditating, even blogging. There’s definately a spiritual flavor happening when I enter this room. It’s usually early in the morning, after I’ve watched a bit of morning news and eaten my Frosted Mini-Wheats or Eggos. I sit down at this desk with my first cup of coffee, freshly brewed, and open my Bible. After some devotional time, I peruse my regular web-based landmarks: email, blogs, news, etc.

The decor of this room is a mixture of “old world” and Target. We have plenty of books, sitting atop dark-finished bookcases, including an old, sad-looking Walmart bookcase, with the fake backing falling off. I’ve always liked the “old world” style, due to the navigational theme it carries. We have a small brass telescope, a magnifying glass, and an antique style globe placed around the room. I used to have a big “old world” style map that I got at Barnes and Noble a long time ago, but I figured it would look stupid in here without a proper frame, and we can’t afford a frame that big, so I threw it out. We also have a clock sitting on top of the desk hutch that doesn’t work, but the face of the clock has an “old world” map on it, so we keep it. I also want to get a compass someday.

I don’t know what it is that I particularly enjoy about the “navigational” theme for our study. I guess it’s partly because of all the cool studies that I’ve seen with ladders mounted on the floor-to-ceiling shelves and everything, with a big globe or a big map or something in them.

I mentioned earlier that I think our study is somewhat of a spiritual sanctuary for me. I think there is some sort of connection between my spiritual journey and “navigation”. Maybe I take some sort of comfort in these old maps and brass instruments in the way that I take comfort in the fact that the Spirit is my compass and God is navigating me through the dangerous waters of life. He steers me around icebergs and comforts me in storms. I think when I sit down in this room and open this leather book and read through these ancient passages, I’m subconciously asking God to “show me the way” and “guide me in Your direction”. The trouble is, God never shows me the whole map. I never get a glimpse of where I’m ultimately headed. All I have is this Holy Spirit as my compass, pointing me in a direction. Sometimes I’m afraid that I read the compass wrong (compasses are hard to figure out), but come to think of it, I don’t think He’s ever let me go astray. I always end up ok. So why do I get frustrated when I don’t get to see the entire map? If He’s never let me get lost, then why do I still worry about it? Why do I still have trouble trusting Him? What do I know about navigating life? Absolutely nothing. What does God know? Absolutely everything. So why worry? Why not enjoy the voyage instead? It’s going to be a long trip, so why not savor each moment? I may not know where I’m headed, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the ride.