On Saturday my sons and two friends competed at the state FIRST Lego Robotics tournament. The competition required they build an autonomous robot out of Legos, research and solve a problem related to aging, and build a prototype of their solution. It was exciting, they actually finished 2nd overall.
The robot they built had to be programmed to do various tasks. My favorite was what they called a “proportional line follower.” Essentially, their robot can see changes in color on the floor or table it’s driving on. And so, with some programming, you can train it to follow a black line on a white surface.
Most teams at the tournament did this, but most of the other robots could only see black and white, so the result was a kind of mechanical, jerky, back and forth, zig-zag path. So over a distance, then, all their back and forth means they have to travel farther to get where they’re going, and end up using up more of their precious time.
Our team trained their robot to see the border between the white and black as some shade of gray. The darker the gray, the closer to the line, the lighter it got, the farther away. So, instead of occasional major corrections in direction, a zig-zag line, it made hundreds of corrections per inch, resulting in a smooth, straight path, and a faster time.
I think, too often, we head in a direction that turns out to be way of course. But repentance comes slowly. We don’t turn until we’ve strayed from the line.
So we head in a direction until it results in disaster, and our kids are out of control. Or we head in this direction and we keep going until we‘ve done something we really regret, and we realize our spouse doesn’t respect us anymore; we’ve jeopardized our job; we’ve blown our paycheck. And then we turn back.
And our lives become a zig zag of foolish behavior that takes us someplace we never intended to go, followed by radical correction, trying to get back on track.
Make the path straight.
I believe as our hearts become more attuned to the heart of God, our sensors detect our going off path and provide constant correction, and a steady direction that is in line with the life God intends for us.
Luke 3:4-6,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’