Leaving Late and Arriving Early: The Power of a Good Detour

Not long ago I came upon a wreck on a road that leads from our national office to our local church. It appeared that the wreck had happened only minutes before I arrived. A car was completely overturned in the middle of a lane, and another one had skidded off to the side. An ambulance had arrived, and police cars, lights blazing, circled the disaster zone. I and the other cars barely moved at all. We came to a halt and then crawled, at best. We scooted instead of driving.

When a police officer would wave his hand up ahead, it seemed like he gave us only inches to move at a time. I sat there for what felt like forever, only eventually making it past the accident and through the line of cars. I had left someone else at the office earlier who had also planned to make the trip over for another meeting. He had been tied up at the time and said he would arrive a little late. However when I finally did get to the church, he had pulled into the parking lot ahead of me. I asked him how he got there so soon. Didn’t he come upon the same wreck that I had? Actually, he had. But seeing the cars stalled ahead, he had taken his own detour and, as a result, beat me to the church. He left later and arrived earlier, all because he chose a detour.