Hit the Accelerator and Go

            I’ve written before about how much I love the fact that, on the drive from Gettysburg to Onida, you can see so far.  The ground is flat, the road is straight, there are few trees, and you can see for ten miles or more in some places.

            Yesterday morning, though, as I made that drive, you could not see very far at all.  It was foggy.  I had to slow down and keep a careful lookout, because I kept imagining a deer standing right on the road in front of me.  I thought to myself, “This drive isn’t nearly as much fun in the fog.”

            I think sometimes our lives get like that.  We feel like we’re moving in a fog.  We can’t see the way ahead.  When we can’t see the way ahead, we get scared.  We start imagining all sorts of dangers ahead of us.  We move at a slower pace, or maybe even stop entirely.  We get afraid to take risks, because we don’t know what might be coming up next.

            Churches can be like that, too.  We can be afraid to change, afraid to take risks, because we don’t know what might be on the road ahead of us.  We start imagining all sorts of things that could happen if we take chances.  We don’t want to move too fast, because something bad might be waiting for us.

            It’s understandable.  Those dangers we imagine are not completely farfetched.  There could have been a deer on the road ahead of me—people do run into deer around here sometimes.  The dangers we imagine in our lives and in our churches are not completely farfetched, either—sometimes, when we take chances, we may fail, may lose money or time, may upset people, or may embarrass ourselves.

            Here’s the thing, though.  When we go down the road, there’s always a chance something could happen.  Even on a clear day, a deer could suddenly dart onto the road, a tire could blow, a car could suddenly swerve into us.  All kinds of things can happen.  The only way to be perfectly safe is to not go in the first place.  The trouble is that, if we do that, we never get anywhere.  If we do that, we’ll miss out on a lot of good things.

            It’s the same with our lives, as well as the life of the church.  We can never see exactly what’s coming next.  There are always bad things that could happen.  The only way to be perfectly safe is to not try anything.  The trouble is that, if we never try anything, we’ll never get anywhere, and we’ll miss out on a lot of good things.

            We should always take reasonable precautions when we go somewhere—check the tires, wear our seatbelts, etc.  At some point, though, if we want to get anyplace, we have to put the thing in drive, hit the accelerator, and go.

            We can do that in our churches because we know we have God with us.  When we trust God, and do our best to follow God’s will, we know that God will help clear the road ahead.  We should still take reasonable precautions—trusting in God does not mean being foolish—but let’s not miss out on all the good things ahead just because we’re scared.  Let’s have faith, put the thing in drive, hit the accelerator, and go.