Avoiding the Ditch

 A couple of weeks ago, the Potter County and Sully Buttes girls basketball teams were scheduled to play each other in Onida. Naturally, I wanted to go to the game. On the other hand, there was a snowstorm forecast for the area that night. The best forecast I could find said it would start snowing at about 8:00 or 9:00. In other words, it was set to start snowing just about the time the game would end, so that I could very well be driving home in a snowstorm.

You all know what a sports fan I am. As much as I love watching sports, though, I hate driving in snowstorms even more. I decided not to go to the game. The thought occurred to me, though, that if someone else offered to take me to the game, I would probably be willing to ride with them.

Now, why should that be? There's no evidence that this other, unnamed driver would be any better at driving in a snowstorm than I am. Why should I be more willing to ride with someone else than I am to drive myself? As I thought about it, I decided that the answer had to do with responsibility and control.

You'd think control and responsibility are things I'd want, and sometimes they are, but not in this case. If I'm driving, I'm responsible for any bad thing that happens on the way home. If we go into the ditch, or spin out, it's all my fault. When someone else is driving, though, I'm not responsible for anything. There's nothing I can do about it. I have no control over the situation. All I can do is just sit there and ride along. If we go into the ditch, well, don't look at me. After all, I wasn't driving.

It seems to me that God would like me to apply that to other parts of life, too. Not that God wants me to be irresponsible, exactly. But I think God would like me to not feel responsible for any bad thing that happens. I think God would like it if I'd give God control. I think God would like it if I'd let God be the driver of my life, rather than wanting to drive myself.

It's not a perfect analogy, of course. Where it breaks down is that, even if I let God do the driving, God does not want me to just sit passively in the passenger seat. God does not want me to just be along for the ride. God chooses to act with us and through us. I need to seek God's will, but I'm still supposed to be an active participant in my life, not just an observer.

Still, I think there's a lesson to be learned from it. When we give control of our lives to God, when we stop feeling responsible for everything, it takes a lot of pressure off. We can then just do what we're supposed to do and not worry about the results. After all, we are not responsible for what other people do. Other people make their own choices, just like we do. We can try to influence people, but we are not responsible for them.

You and I are only responsible for what we do. If we give control of our lives to God, then all we need to do is follow God's will to the best of our ability. If we do, we can trust that God will not drive us into the ditch.