It had been a rainy, wind-filled kind of day, with the natural elements
definitely being on the loose. Driving carefully up a hill with his
girlfriend in the passenger seat, my oldest son's adrenaline suddenly
had reason to spike as the car hydroplaned, spinning out of control, and
slamming into a guardrail on the other side of the road.
In such
moments only one thought comes to mind: "Lord protect Jen!" In a split
second a life can be completely altered, if not destroyed. In such
moments we realize what truly matter. It's not the shiny beautiful car
that will come to mind (Especially not a tiny Echo!), and it's not even
the promotion at work. These do really not matter in the total scheme of
things.
Needless to say, the car was far from attractive. The
front end was completely smashed on the driver's side, and the front
light seemed to have bounced loose. Meanwhile the front fender decided
it needed to scrape the tire from time to time, and the driver's door
wouldn't open more than about 5 cm. The back of the vehicle was only a
tiny bit better, and there was my son with a car that had a terrible
headache, an eye springing out of its socket, dragging on its wheels.
But somehow, it was still driveable!
After the initial adrenaline
evaporated, worry replaced it: "What would my parents think? How much
will it cost to repair this? Will it raise my insurance premiums?" In
just a few moments, dread replaced worry, and it was with trepidation
that he placed the call on his cell phone.
It was all over in a
brief moment, and as he hung up his cell phone, he looked over at his
girlfriend.
"Well, what did your dad say?"
My son couldn't
speak for a moment, then he repeated what I had told him: "He said...I
am glad God kept you both safe!"
What's more important anyway?
Reflecting on this incident, I started to wonder what is most
important to God, and here again, the word "love" springs clearly up:
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind. And Love your neighbor as
yourself.'" (Matthew 22:37, 39 NIV2)
Our God is a God of love.
What matters the most to Him is extreme, genuine love!
I wonder
how He views us during the worship service at church when our minds
constantly take a trip to far-away places, revisiting events that
happened during the week, reviewing the to-do lists, problem-solving
some issue from work...Are our hearts fully focused on Him? Do we let
pure love reign in our hearts? Or have we slipped up somewhere and
bounced against a rail guard?
Don't fear, we are not the only
ones who have hydroplaning thoughts. Even pastors, who are human as
well, sometimes experience this problem!
Have you ever truly
experienced God at church? Have you ever felt His presence filling the
entire congregation? In such times your heart is filled with adoration
and you can't wait to anticipate what will happen next. You hunger for
more of Him, and you wish deeply that this moment could last for a long
time, if not for ever. And then the moment is broken when the preacher
stands up and decides we need to follow the schedule, otherwise the
service will not end on time. Better not be late to KFC ! It's so sad!
We pray for revival, but when God shows up we tend to hydroplane as
well!
Love can be part of our worship as well, in fact worship is
but a futility without love!
It is time that we "wake up from
your slumber" (Romans 13:11, NIV2) and realize what truly matters in
life. Possessions will all fade away. Promotions will be eventually
forgotten. To-do lists will never end, no matter how hard we work on
them. But love is for eternity! What will we do to bring it fully back
into our lives before we hydroplane to nothingness?
Our car
certainly does stand out now. We will never be confused as to which
vehicle is ours!
Rob Chaffart
Out of Control
Today's Bible Verse:
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me. They worship me in vain." (Mark 7:6-7)
Out of Control
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