Travegators and craters.....

I was driving throught the craters the other day in my little Mitsubishi Eclipse when Linda told me to put on my "Travegator"!  Travegator!....What is a Travegator?!  It is so hard to decipher the Ghanaian English while trying to avoid being sucked into the abyss by a crater in the road.  The picture I am showing you can not truly capture the treachery of driving most roads in Ghana. 

Remember, this is not just one road in one place.  This is every road to everywhere!

I am, as are every other driver, constantly moving from left to right to center and back again to dodge the BIG ONES!



Yes, most roads are two lane road just as we have in America.  Yes, in Ghana we drive on the right side on the road just as in America.  However, due to the size and frequency of the craters in the road, sometimes the right side of the road is actually the left side of the original road, because the left side is now the area to the left of the road.  Sometimes, the middle of the road is the left side and/or the right side of the road.  Sometimes the left side is the right side and the right side is the left side.  And sometimes every side goes both ways!  And then after it rains, anyones' guess goes.....

 



When I am driving down these roads, I find myself holding my breath, clinching my teeth, grabbing the steering wheel so hard I have "really white knuckle" and frequently saying "Ouch" out loud as I imagine the pain and suffering this car is enduring.  And in the middle of all of this, I am now trying to figure out what "put on my Travegator" means.  Talk about brain over-load!  I mean there are cars on either side of me, some coming at me, some passing me and people attempting to walk along side of you with BIG loads of goods balanced on their heads trying to sell you items as you drive.  "Travegator".....what?!



So this is where British English, Ghanaian English and American English meet.  I am sure some of you have already figured out the "Travegator".  In Britich English it is a "Tafficator", in Amerian it is a signal light (blinker).  This has been my Ghan-english word for the week...Travagator.  So now as I drive through the craters, dodging the other cars, and watching for all the pedestrians with BIG loads on their heads, I know that I am "Travegating".



This make me think about the "narrow" road to Heaven and my journey on that road.  There have been many, many detours from the right side to the left side of that road.  And, yes, I have fallen into many craters, both BIG and small.  And there have been many "pedestrians" along the way with all their "baggage" who have attempted (and sometimes managed) to stop me on my way.  But I praise the Lord today, because I know that Jesus, My Lord and Savior is my "Travegator".  He will help me to stay on the narrow road if I will only look to him for the way. 

Matt. 7:13-14  Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Luke 19:10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Have you found your "Travegator"?  Jesus is waiting for you.  Let him be your "Travigator".