He told the story of God choosing Jonah to preach to the wicked people in Nineveh.
Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and chose instead to go in another direction.
It got me thinking about some of the wrong turns that I have made in my life.
The first wrong turn was during my trip to Miami.
I flew to Miami to be with my daughter during her surgery and recovery.
I sat in the waiting room while my daughter was having her surgery, the nurse came out and gave me a prescription for my daughter for painkillers and antibiotics.
She said I should get the prescription filled at the nearby Publix Pharmacy, which was within walking distance.
We had taken a taxi to the surgery center (keep in mind we did not have a car to drive).
A couple from Rochester, New York, was going to the pharmacy to get their prescription filled, and the nurse asked them if I could go with them.
The couple was polite and said I could go.
The woman was getting breast implants on Friday.
The nurse gave directions to the Publix Pharmacy to the husband.
We walked to the parking deck and loaded into their rented red mini car.
Their luggage was still in the car, and they had not yet checked into their hotel.
The red mini car had two doors that opened from the outside and two more that opened from the inside only.
Off we went in search of the Publix Pharmacy.
We went to Flager, then NW, on Forty-second Avenue.
Next, we went SW on Forty-second Avenue, where we stopped at Publix.
The woman and I got out of the car and went inside the store and I asked one of the women working at the check-out where is your pharmacy?
The woman replied we have no pharmacy.
The woman from Rochester, NY, and I started to laugh.
Then, we went on to explain our search for a Publix Pharmacy.
The woman at the check-out register drew us a map to the nearest Publix (which I later found out was the wrong pharmacy).
We took so many turns that I was completely lost when we finally found the Pharmacy.
We gave our prescriptions to the Pharmacist, and he said it was going to take at least one and a half hours to get the prescription filled. We asked why it was going to take so long, and they replied that one of the prescriptions was a narcotic drug and only one pharmacist had access to the drug.
We rode back to the surgery center, where I was dropped off.
I thanked the couple for letting me tag along with them.
I never saw them again.
I went to the lobby to wait, there, I met a couple from Charlotte, North Carolina.
They said that they both worked for the US Post Office in Charlotte.
They said that they had four children, two boys and a set of twin girls.
She was having breast implants done that day.
I told her husband that he had better get her prescription filled before she came out of surgery because they had told us it would take an hour and a half to fill.
The hubby dropped off her prescriptions.
His wife went back to surgery before my daughter came out of surgery.
My daughter came out of surgery around 5:30PM, she was in a lot of pain. She kept saying just shoot me!
We had to wait until 6PM to leave because the owner was going to give us a ride to the hotel, and the surgery center did not close until 6PM.
We rode to Publix Pharmacy to get my daughter's prescription
What we thought was a quick stop turned into stopping at two different Publix.
We arrived at the first Publix, and as I was going up the escalator, I met Mural. (Man from Charlotte, NC)
We walked to the pharmacy together, and I said to him this place does not look familiar.
I was next in line, I gave my daughter's name to the pharmacist, and she tried to look up my daughter’s prescription.
The pharmacist said you must have left the prescription at another Publix Pharmacy.
So, I walked back to the car and told my daughter and our driver that it was the wrong Pharmacy.
My daughter was not happy about that at all.
We went several miles in the wrong direction when I said, I think we are going in the wrong direction.
I said to the driver, the Publix where we need to go is not far from the first one because I remember coming back down West Flager St.
The driver said, Now I think I know the correct location, it is a new Publix Pharmacy.
We arrived at the correct Publix pharmacy, and I got in line to pick up my daughter's prescription.
The woman in front of me kept asking questions about the prescription she had just filled.
I did not think she would ever shut up!
Finally, I got my daughter's medicine; the cost was $2.00 I paid and left.
On the way home, the driver said, “I have not eaten all day do you mind if I stop at Wendy’s?”
He ordered a Coke, fries, and a large hamburger. He asked if we wanted anything to eat, and we said yes, so we ordered a junior cheeseburger and fries.
I offered to pay, but he paid for everything.
My daughter was sitting in the backseat.
When she opened her pill bottle, she dropped one.
I was sitting in the front seat, and I had to unbuckle my seat belt, lean my head toward the back, and put my butt up in the air to look for that pill.
Never found it!
We arrived at the hotel, got out, and thanked the driver.
The driver had to pull the seat out to reach the pill.
He said I have two small children, and I don't need a loose pill floating around for my kids to get their hands on.
You can get lost by disobeying God,
You can get lost in your mind,
You can get lost by not paying attention
You can get lost anywhere!!!
