Driving in the Right Lane and Spirituality

I have finally identified one of the core issues to my walk with Jesus Christ – driving in the right lane. Try it for a week. Okay, a day. Then try driving in the right lane and do nothing else but drive. No radio, phone calls, tapes, etc. It is a Sabbath activity for me and has been for some time. It is exhilarating. But I have not not been able to integrate this into my work week. Why? It is deep, I suspect. Very deep. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry (Dallas Willard’s famous phrase to John Ortberg) captures what, I believe, is one of our critical issues as followers of Christ in our culture. In New York City we are famous for finishing people’s sentences, speeding to red lights, fighting for a seat on a subway or bus, and “attitude.” Traveling around North America, however, has shown me that we don’t have a patent on the problem. Multitasking, continuous partial attention, and trying to put 10 hours of “doing” into 1 hour of time are also universals in rural, suburban and other urban areas. Jesus said “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives…” Jn. 14:27. Where do you think this peace is for us, especially for us leaders in God’s church? The core issue for me, I think, is fear God may not come through, that I am really responsible for my fate more than I really am. God gave me an insight this past week to the story of Jesus and the storm with the 12 disciples from Matt. 8:23-27. What did Jesus expect them to do as the boat was being capsized in the storm and He was sleeping? Did He expect them to lie down and sleep?  I think the answer may be “Yes.” He is Lord of all, the ultimate reality behind all reality. If the ship goes down after we do all we can and if He, the Lord Almighty on the throne who is good and rules over the universe, chooses to sleep and let it go down with the waves, then perhaps we should lie down and sleep. It preaches better than it lives and sure raises a number of questions. Nonetheless,  how about trying to drive in the right lane and not multitasking in the process?