Wiser Behind The Wheel

During my first year at university, I moved back in with my parents. But school was in another town, requiring me to drive there if I enrolled. Cars didn't rust out where we lived, and my father kept an old car going for each of the six of us. I had taken driver's education in high school, which was all video simulation, but I didn't have my license yet. The city bylaw stated that those who failed the driver's license test three times in a row had to wait six months before taking it again.

Failing ignominiously for the third time, I broke into tears. "I won't be able to go to college," I sobbed. "I have to drive!"

The examiner looked concerned as my tears fell, but said, "You are the worst driver that I have seen in a long time. You have potential, but it isn't there yet. Well, hold on. I'll go and see what my supervisor thinks." I wiped my eyes and waited until he returned with a paper with the conditions that they had drawn up.

"Okay, here's the deal," he said. "We don't want you driving in our city. But there are back roads between here and your school. If you agree to stay away from big city traffic and keep to the back roads, you can have a license. Otherwise, you'll get this license revoked." He handed me the paper to sign.

As I signed it, I thought about God as a driver and the strength of His power and light:

Psalm 44:2a – You drove out the pagan nations by your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. (NLT)

My failure as a driver really did extend to my spiritual condition. I would try to find the easy way to avoid a situation when the only way out was through.

I want things to be easy, but God wants me to grow, someone said. Not only had I ignored the preparation that I should have made for the test, but up to the licensing exam, I had been cavalier about overloading the car, in those days before seat belts. I had consciously flouted my father's instructions to take only as many passengers as I had seats. Once before, with only a learner's permit, I had passed my father going in the opposite direction, with thirteen passengers stuffed inside and a ladder strapped to the top of the car.

Before I ever got behind the wheel again, I needed to change how I drove. This meant that I first needed to change my relationship to God to a personal one, asking for His help and guidance when I was tempted to avoid facing up to the difficult things that come to us all.

Romans 12:2 – Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (NLT)

Prayer: Dear Father God, we thank You for Your care of each of us, Your children, as we mature both in our behaviour and in our faith. Thank You for the things that wake us up and change who we are by the things that we do. Help us to be wise. Amen.

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