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The Passenger’s Seat

My oldest daughter turned fifteen this past weekend. She also got her “learner’s licence” and was anxious to give driving a try, so Sunday afternoon found us both in places that were a little uncomfortable – her in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger’s seat.

Now, she did a great job! She was cautious and careful. She was observant. She asked the appropriate questions and she took advice well. In fact, over the course of the two hour session, I was only really concerned two times and both of those had more to do with the snowy road conditions than anything she had done. Still, it was a bit unnerving.

You see, I like the driver’s seat. I like to be in control. Even when I my wife is driving, I think I know how fast we should be going, when we should be slowing down and when she needs to shoulder check more (Truth be told, she is likely a safer driver than I am, but I am not going to admit that). It is just an odd feeling, no matter who the driver is, to be in the passenger’s seat. Your life is in their hands and there is really nothing you can do about it but go along for the ride.

Thinking about it, though, isn’t that true of every aspect of our life? We like to think that we are in control, that we run the show in our own lives, but that is really just an illusion. All it takes is a little bit of tragedy to remind us that we really are just along for the ride. When someone you love gets sick, is in an accident or even dies it does not take long to remember that we control very little.

Fortunately, when my life feels a little out of control, I am can take comfort in the fact that an expert driver is behind the wheel. In fact, he can drive me through things that I would have no idea how to navigate. As the book of Romans states it, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

I may not understand where things are going all the time, but that is ok.
As time goes by, I am becoming a little more comfortable in the passenger’s seat.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

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