Off Track--On Track

It all began when I decided I must have a “today” word for what it means to “put the Lord your  God to the test”.  It’s the 2^nd temptation Jesus faces after fasting 40 days.  The devil states his nasty business by suggesting that Jesus needs some real proof of His exalted position and should jump off a roof and get rescued by God. That would settle everything. (See Luke 4)

But Jesus says, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” and sends the messenger from hell away on his heels.

I wonder, I’m not one to jump off buildings, so what do I do that puts my God to the test--today? 

After a few days, I hear within me the fateful words, “Drive the speed limit.  Drive the speed limit.” 

This is revolting.  My personal pet peeves are slow poke drivers.  They drive exactly the speed limit and keep 12+ drivers fuming behind them.  They lack basic consideration for others and contemplate life in their own sweet time. 

On the other hand, I am an appropriate, over-the-actual-speed-limit driver.  I drive eight to 10 miles over the speed limit on freeways and five or more over in cities.  It’s a generational skill inherited from my father and I do it well. I have no accidents.

But the truth soon dawns---the “today” 2nd temptation of Christ is parked right in my own driveway.  When I speed I expect God to keep me safe.    I’ve been “had” and I asked for it.  Yuk!

But now, weeks later, I am becoming a new woman.  I drive the speed limit and report the following:

1. I am always on time.  If I arrive after the scheduled start time of an event, the meeting is delayed and I am on time.
2. Stop lights and I are in a groove.  At the first stop light after a highway drive, the light invariably turns green just as I arrive and I pass the speedsters that are waiting in the other lane. 
3. I rest.  I notice houses, people, hills, animals, trails, etc.  Where were they before? 
4. I pull over to let drivers pass or I drive in the slow lane.  I have compassion on them and don’t want their tension darting into my rear view window.
5. I now rule over the race car driver to the point of her demise.  She is a liar and a cheat.  All these years I thought I needed to be “wherever” as quickly as possible.  On a 100 mile trek, I now arrive about 10 minutes later than before the slow down.  Hmm.  What did I do in those 10 minutes that made the world a better place?  Not much.
6. I’m in the Word. I now look forward to road trips, because I am at peace, not “working the road”, and can listen to the New Testament on CD, over and over again. 

But there’s more change emerging in other places of my life.  That race car demon had her hands into everything!  She’s now exposed into the light of day and declared a complete misfit. 

Devil you lose.  Jesus you win again.  The journey itself has become a destination.