In Cars We Trust

Some people just stink at driving. Others make dumb decisions, are inattentive because they’re texting or talking on their cell phones, or simply miscommunicate with other drivers. I’ve been guilty of most of these, but fortunately none of them have resulted in car accidents.

I’ve been amazed as I’ve been driving the past few weeks of all the times I could’ve been an unfortunate victim of someone else’s driving mistakes or plain bad luck. Passing a car on the left on the interstate, a woman didn’t see me, started to move into my lane so I quickly sped up, narrowly avoiding her clipping the back side of my car. Driving to work one day, I was in the right lane minding my own business when someone making a left turn into a gas station failed to signal, causing the two cars behind them to both slam on their breaks in a hurry. Luckily no one tried to swerve into my lane to avoid the stopping car. And just last week, I left for work a few minutes later than usual and came upon a pretty bad accident that had to have happened only a minute or two earlier.

We all experience these things regularly, although we’re not always quite as fortunate.

One of the things this has turned my attention toward is how much trust in other people it takes to get in our cars and drive every single day. Every time we pass someone, pull up to an intersection, or drive during rush hour, we’re trusting hundreds and thousands of people to be responsible for their own vehicles, otherwise putting our own lives in jeopardy.

Call it pessimism (I like to call it a healthy dose of reality!), but I don’t like to put too much confidence in the general public and their overall ability to make wise decisions.

That being said, it’s kind of convicting to me to think about how willing I am to put my life in the hands of all of these other drivers, and how unwilling I am at times to entrust different areas of my life to God. I think I’m probably like most people in that I desire to have control over my own life and well-being.

Said another way, I’m more willing to trust the woman talking on her cell phone next to me on the interstate not to drift into me than I am to trust God to provide for my family’s financial needs. I would rather take matters into my own hands, doing whatever I can to control the situation.

The way of Jesus is one that demands radical trust. He himself entrusted his life by way of the Cross to God’s plan, confident in the fact that entering into the Father’s story was better than trying to write one for himself.

And that’s what we’re called to. Every day, we have to decide if we’re going to live for our own story, seeking power, money, and prestige, or if we are going to trust that finding our niche in God’s story is the better option. The good news is that we’re giving up control to One who has proved Himself to be more powerful, loving, and worthy of trust than anyone else will ever be. -CK