No help required, everything is awesome!

It happens to all of us. Yep, you and me, and anyone else who is a Christian. When things are going well in our lives, we have everything figured out. Life is smooth ride and all we need to do is sit back and take it all in. No need to wonder how we got there or if the God of the universe might have had something to do with it.  We have everything under control.

We say, “Jesus, I’ll drive.”

Then the storm comes. 

It’s like a PNW winter day, always cloudy, but a whole lot darker. The storm rages and we are battered on all sides. We fight it, let me tell you we fight it.  We try real hard but it is just too much for us. But we have an ace up our sleeve, Jesus! All we need to do is to call on His name and he is right beside us. Man, does that feel good when we call out, “Jesus, take the wheel.” And he does. He helps us work through the struggle, just like the last time there was a storm. We know this to be true because in Deuteronomy 31:6 it says:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

But here is the truth behind this verse.  Jesus is not our part-time driver.

When we open that door and embrace the one true Savior of the world, we give Him the driver’s seat.  But far too often, when the road is smooth and straight, we forget that we gave Him that seat. We take over. Sure, we might thank Him for providing and blessing us, but let’s be honest, we still are at the wheel. When the road is bumpy and we are losing control, our cry out to God is fierce! We don’t want crash, we don’t want to feel pain, we want to get back on the smooth road.  So, we get down on our knees and say, “God save me. Help me.”

But what if…

What if we cried out to Him with the same fervor when the roads are smooth?  What if when there is a time of peace in our lives we got down on our knees and said, “God teach me. Lead me to what is next.”

Help required.

At this point, I would normally give you a personal story about how I’ve said, “Jesus, I’ll drive…” But let’s be honest, we have all been there before. Instead we should take stock of who is at the wheel now. Is it you? My prayer for us is that we would be able to identify who is at the wheel, what road we are on, and if we are asking God to lead us to where He wants us to go.