Life on the Road

Picture your spiritual life as a car—a friend once told me (The North American International Auto Show is happening right now. Exciting stuff. 700,000 people, 6,800 journalists covering it. It’s a big deal. We like our cars in the greater Detroit area).

When God changes you, gives you new life, makes you a new creation, you’re like one of those new vehicles being rolled out. Lots of potential. People notice you. You’ve got solar panels that run the gadgets and a state of the art sound system. Your dash board lights up blue—which is the coolest color for any dashboard lights. It’s a fact. It’s science.

So we take the car out for a spin. We go on a cross country trip. We take the top down and we feel the breeze. We love the road. We pick up hitchhikers. We go carpool. We get groceries. We do all the stuff a car is supposed to do.

Then, over time, some of us get caught up in the gadgets. The killer stereo. The comfortable seats. Some of us sit and read the manual. And, we forget the main purpose of the car . . . to move. To move forward.

So, we park it. And, we enjoy the gadgets. Friends come over and say, “hey, let’s go for a spin” and we say, “nah, I kinda just want to sit right here and listen to the new Westwinds CD. It’s awesome! Really gets me fired up. Know all the words.

Ridiculous. Stuck with the radio blarring, looking at your blue dashboard lights, honking the horn, playing with the buttons . . . for what? The car’s not moving. Those solar panels have just enough juice to keep that radio going. And so, you’ll sit. And, why shouldn’t you? Plenty of other cars are doing the same thing.

What does it take to get you going? Someone rear ending you? An emergency call that requires you to get across town? Someone walking by and catching the young hussy you have in the back seat?

What’s your killer stereo system? Westwinds? Is Westwinds your carport? Do you park it here on the weekend and let people look at it, but not get too close? Our carport can be a family member—we let them be the spiritual ones and hope it will rub off on us. Our school can be our carport—maybe we go to a Christian school or University and we feel comfortable hiding from the world for a few years and not engaging—not allowing people inside—not allowing God to convict—not participating in our world, community. Not living.

Thomas Merton said, “The spiritual life is first of all life.” It’s not something we merely talk about or think about or study . . . we live it.