dashboard repentance

I'm not sure when automakers began to install a brain-sucker on the driver side door frame, but it is indeed highly effective at removing any sense of need for legality or safety. Most models seem to have a standard upgrade that effectively sucks out all patience and causes even the most mild-mannered people to swear loudest at the oldest and safest drivers. This anomaly increases the further you are to the left on the highway. 



And here is the conspiracy behind it; they seem to be most effective on self-proclaimed devout Christians. 


Today is a good day to look at yourself behind the wheel. It is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of a season of self-examination and reflection. It is not a call to look at church school attendance, how many witness tee shirts you own or how cool your bumper stickers are. It is not a time to count how many christian pages you like on Facebook. No, this is a time to come to grips with what our daily in-and-out lives look like.


The questions we are asked to look at personal and reflective; is the reality that Jesus died instead of me lived out in the entirety of my life? Do I trust Him in all aspects of my life, especially in the mundane things?


So here is how God showed me today how to trust him.  I picked up my yearly dashboard repentance after I left our first service. For those of you who don't understand this practice you match the numbers  on the big dial behind your car's steering wheel  the numbers on the sign with the letters "mph" on the side of the highway. Those numbers stand for "miles per hour".


 I was on a stretch of Interstate 84 headed toward West Hartford just past Plainville being passed by everyone and getting lots of looks by people who feel the right lane is used for passing the slow people in the left lane.  It really straitens out and folks move. The average speed people drive on I 84 is 70 so it is very easy to say "honey, I'm not driving fast. I'm just keeping up with traffic! It won't be safe to drive so slow!"


I was nearing the exit I wanted in Farmington. It's a left exit across three lanes so I had lots of time to convince myself that I needed to drive fast for safety reason. I was watching the cars close in fast behind me and I began to pray. "Lord, please let me pass over to the left safely without having to speed". The first wave of cars overtook me and then there was a gap followed by another large group of cars.


I was in the middle lane now and it seemed like a Derby race...would I reach the exit before the cars came up from the rear and over took me. And then, right there on I 84 driving my 2006 Honda Ridgeline at 55mph God began to show me a bit of my life....


If God could take care of the Israelites who were caught between apparent death by drowning and being hacked to pieces by the entire army of Pharaoh he sure can be trusted in the things of my life.


And as if to prove His point, I took the left exit without a hitch. The cars never caught up to me.

It is Lent. SLOW DOWN. Ask God to show you where you have taken you life into your own hands. Repent of them. Ask God to forgive you.

And today, as you wear ashes on your heads, or look at those who do allow this reality to sink in.
You cannot out-drive your mortality.