I have five children. All of whom have gone through that wonderful right of passage known as Drivers Ed. I (for reasons that we won't discuss here) have always been the one designated to teach them how to navigate the roads. From the very beginning I would tell them two things. One buckle up, and two keep your hands on the wheel at all times. Over the years the hand positions on the wheel have changed, 10 and 2 now it's apparantly 8 and 4, but whatever the current trend, keeping your hands on the wheel at all times was the rule.
The time spent on the road with my kids taught me alot about trust. We encountered a few situations that made me really glad to know that my salvation was secure and that God "had my back" so to speak, but I also learned my own lesson in "drivers ed".
The lesson that I had to learn was contrary to the one I had so adamantly taught my own children. God was teaching me to take my hands "off the wheel".
How many times had I prayed to God for help, and then turned right around and did it my way? Endless repeated conversations with God about what needed to be done, never bothering to listen for an answer, and then running back and asking "why", when the results I were hoping for never materialized.
Learning to take our hands off the wheel is hard. We are prone to want to be in control and relinquishing it to anyone (even God) causes us to step out of our comfort zone. And that is precisly where we meet God. After we have exhausted all of our own ideas, when we come straggling back to God weary often desperate and say," here Lord take the wheel, I can't navigate this road any longer", will we be free to let go.
Being a "Road Warrior" won't earn you a license!
2 comments:
Cathy:
Great thought in this post. I liken it to going to the dentist. I trust my dentist, but I still clinch when he comes at me with that pick. Why? Is it because Ithink he's going to hurt me? No what is hurting me is what he is trying to fix - decay.
Is it because I don't like pain? If the pain is too much he has medicine for that and his job is on the line if he does his work poorly - I go to another dentist.
Yet I know that he cares about me, and is doing what he is doing for my good, but I still struggle to trust him.
And I have the same struggle with God, who is worlds more compassionate and loving than my dentist, even though my dentist is a Christian.
Cathy,
I continue to be amazed at your gift for capturing spiritual truth through everyday observations. I'm delighted that you're sharing this gift with us.
Jeff
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