GPS really works

5:50 AM

I'm a big fan of GPS.

I've already described how navigating without landmarks to know where you're going is like driving with a blanket stretched over the windshield.

There's been more than a time or six I've been cruising along without reference to familiar guideposts, and times I've become distracted when I shoulda been paying attention, and run the risk of slamming into obstructions. When that wasn't my intention and I didn't even want to.

But dangerous obstacles are lurking in every direction, sometimes invisible, sometimes lying just under the surface ... and you won't know until it's too late that you've either collided or run aground ... and forced to deal with needless damage and humiliating repairs (whether personal or financial) you caused by drifting off-course.

So long as you pay attention and stay tuned to the signal GPS knows precisely where you are and eliminates unnecessary delays by keeping your course perfectly on track.

Sure sometimes it's hard to trust what GPS says, especially in adverse conditions when you can't tell how fast you're going or see what's immediately ahead ... because in storm conditions your destination's hardly ever in plain sight.

Having total faith in GPS takes some getting used to, but then GPS is the most reliable navigation system we've got. Bar none.

Supplementing GPS with "gut feelings" or making "mid-course corrections" (even worse, panicking and totally ignoring GPS) will never make sense ... because expecting to safely arrive at the right destination after you've second-guessed GPS along the way only results in confusion and frustration.

Making seat of the pants adjustments is like having no GPS at all.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of God's Plan Sustains ... and there's a reason self-steering is called dead reckoning.