Driving Lessons

As I've been tending a family's home this past week or so, I have also been given the generous, and risky, opportunity of driving their car, which happens to be a stick shift.  Now, I've driven stick shift a few times before, so I know how it goes.  Over the past several days, with the exception of a few interesting occurrences of sitting helplessly at intersections for five minutes, I have greatly improved my skills -- though I can't say the car hasn't lost some rubber on the tires and gained some cracks in the bumper.  But though I seem to have mastered the art of going forward comfortably, backing up is still quite another story.  In fact, having got the car safely parked, I've gone back to my friendly automatic for the time being, lest I inflict further damage on my friends' poor old rig!

Learning to drive a stick shift is first of all a wonderful lesson in patience.  So I've killed it five times?  Give it yet another try, and another, and another . . .  But when one more try has turned into two dozen more tries and I'm still only inching along in the wrong direction, in comes the next lesson: I need help!  I really can't do this on my own after all.  Somebody who's been there done that and fully conquered it needs to step in to my rescue.  I'm very thankful for the kind lady who did just that for me the other day -- God routinely uses His people to answer desperate prayers!

In every monumental thing we set out to learn in life, there will be moments of "I got this!" as well as many more moments of "I'm totally stuck!"  If we're going to get anywhere, we have to keep trying until we do get it.  Often God provides the ability to get through without outside aid, but when there comes a time that we simply can't get it on our own, a mile in the passenger seat and a little pointer from someone skilled may be just what we need to get us on the road again.  So if you're stuck, put on the brake and call for help before you get in a big scrape.  And when you've finally got it down, look for somebody who doesn't yet and lend a hand!

Without counsel, plans go awry,

But in the multitude of counselors they are established.

Proverbs 15:22