This summer with all its travel, summer reading, camps and pool time has had the included bonus of another student driver in our home. This bonus has increased the level of adventure, drama and a good dose of patience stretching. I’m pretty mortified by some of the words that have filled my car as we try to change lanes on Poplar and avoid ditches on Shady Grove. Practice for fall sports began a few weeks ago and so our driving adventures now twice daily include meetings with the biggest speed bumps in the city. If teaching parking lot safety and appropriate speed wasn’t challenging enough, there is one particular speed bump on campus that my “smart car” refuses to drive over. My Volvo has a safety mechanism that when approaching a large object at a slow speed will force the car’s dashboard to light up like Christmas and shut the engine completely down. The Volvo must believe that this speed bump is a mountain, farm animal, or dump truck, because it consistently stalls out right in the valley of “Mt. Labry”. With the consistency of the safety shut down, I should no longer be surprised or taken off guard when we flat line, but it freaks me out every time.
I understand and value the need for speed bumps and have encountered my share of metaphorical speed bumps a lot this year. In my rush and determination to raise teenagers, be productive, manage a home, stay healthy, foster loving relationships, and glorify the Lord, I have failed, had setbacks and gotten off track. These backsliding times have happened because I have taken my eyes off of the things that are most important. I have “driven off the road” because I have been distracted by the temporal and not locked in on the eternal.
God in His gracious and tender way has put “speed bumps” in my path to slow me down and help me correct my vision problem. These bumps have come in the form of unruly kids, fractured feelings and relationships, sickness, and disappointments. When I encounter these bumps, I usually slow down and earnestly seek the Lord. He loves me so much that when I am dangerously distracted and fixated on myself, He does what it takes to help turn my eyes back on Him. He knows that the perfect place for me to focus is on Him and on things eternal… not on things in the rearview mirror or vanity mirror.
The purpose of a speed bump is for drivers to slow down. At its core, the purpose is safety. When we ignore speed bumps and fly over them, we endanger ourselves and those around us. There is no need to be frustrated by them; speed bumps on the road and in life are valuable focusing tools. There is also no need to be completely flat lined and freaked out by speed bumps. When you find your fast march delayed by guilt, mistakes and disappointments, don’t quit. You have been given a gentle reminder that you are not focusing on what is most important. Accept the gentle nudge of the speed bump and be enveloped by the safe and eternal embrace of your loving eternal Father who is holding on to you every step of the way and will be waiting at the finish line.
“While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV)
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)