Letting God Drive

They don't cover this in driver's ed, but prayer covers everything.

In my life, there have been many moments that stand out as on the brink of what I thought I could handle. Yet over time, each of these moments turns out to be a building block for something that happens later in life. I belive God gives us these trials so that we may learn and be ready for the next test.

Photocredit: West Boca News/Samir

When I was in college, there was a late and unusually large snow at my college. The snow occurred on a Sunday evening, the time just before students would need to place their cars back in the student parking lots, which prompted several of us to move our cars early so as to beat the weather. I had never driven in snow before, and up until yesterday, that was the scariest driving experience I'd ever had! I took the long way around, careful to avoid hills, and went slow to adapt to the feel of the snow. Yet the image of students spinning out and losing control of their cars is imprinted in my mind. Probably because I felt like I, too, had virtually no control over my car. I was scared, but God guided my car to safety.

Last night, I understood why Jesus had me experience that bizarre snow storm, where I had family and friends within close proximity and knew the area well. As I wound through town trying to avoid deep standing water, I feared that my car would stall out or that I'd never find a working traffic light to guide me to safety. As I made difficult turns and decisions about the safety of a road, I recalled the feel of driving through that snow and I remembered that God was a much better driver than I am. So, I trusted Him to get me home safe.

I saw so many cars stall out as water seeped into their engines and I took chances on dark roads where I couldn't see the road, let alone how deep the water was. Below is a video taken by Sean O'Connor showing what conditions were like in the area I was driving.
Like many of the vehicles that are shown "dead in the water," my car is small and low to the ground (not sports car low but too low for comfort in a flood). The chances of me ending up like those cars was very high, but Jesus carried me safely home. Each time I experience something, I'm able to draw on an experience God brought me through before. Not only was I better driver, calmer, and able to make better decisions, I knew to hand the wheel over to Him first, because there's no way I made it through all that in my Honda Civic by myself. This is my 11^th testimony, the testimony of survival.