Lane Assist

Recently my wife and I took our kids on a Thanksgiving trip to visit family in Alabama. We rented a car to make the trip a little easier and more fun. The kids loved it. Another reason for the rental is my wife and I drive ten and twenty year old vehicles so we aren’t really used to some of the new tech in these newer vehicles. So renting a new vehicle is fun for us as well.

Cruise control has been around for ages. Both of our older model vehicles have cruise control and it’s a wonderful feature on long trips, but its coolness has definitely worn off. However, a feature I had never used before when driving was lane assist. Man, when paired with cruise control... what a game changer. I feel like I didn’t have to pay attention to anything! The car is basically doing it for me. 

The cool thing about lane assist is that it’s constantly giving you subtle suggestions that you can feel easily when you’re paying attention to it. It will even help you go around bends in the road. But there’s a catch to using this convenient technology. You have to keep both hands on the wheel. Otherwise, the car will make not so subtle beeps and alerts to tell you to keep both hands on the wheel. 

This got me thinking about what it’s like to follow Christ…

It’s been almost two decades since Carrie Underwood gave us a great song with bad theology. I’m sure she meant well, but Jesus Take The Wheel is a great song with bad theology. It was an anthem for many but it’s not going to help us understand a life of following Jesus and might even lead us to being disappointed in Him. 

Now that I’ve upset all the Carrie fans let me explain. You’re the driver. Jesus is the navigator. The Holy Spirit is the lane assist. If you take your hands off and close your eyes you’re gonna meet Jesus. Jesus’ job isn’t to do it for you. That’s too easy and kinda makes you irrelevant. Kinda renders you a meat covered robot if Jesus does everything for you. I don’t think He’s gonna take the wheel so stop asking. 

But He’s also not leaving you out to dry. The Holy Spirit assists. He gives you the subtle suggestions to keep you in the middle of the lane. Sure, you can override Him and lane change, get off at the next exit, or take a sharp turn into a ditch or guard rail. That’s what makes us human: free will. Free to take the subtle suggestions or take complete control over the whole trip. Lane, speed, direction, and destination. 

No, in this analogy life is not about taking your hands off and crossing your arms. It’s more of closing your eyes and opening your ears. When we close our eyes, all of our others senses get heightened. We are more in tuned with them because sometimes our eyes are more distractions and hindrances  that help. (Remember, this is an analogy so next time you drive please keep your eyes open or, again, you will meet Jesus).

As we travel through life, pay close attention to the suggestions the Holy Spirit is giving you. Listen to your navigator. Life is about the journey not just the destination. The journey is what brings you to the destination anyway. So don’t override the lane assist suggestions. Don’t take complete control of the journey. Keep both hands on the wheel. Your navigator will get you to where you need to go exactly when you need to get there.