Lock In God, Trust Your Car

Lock in God?  Trust your car?  No, I haven't gone off the deep end.  

But sometimes my car is pretty reliable.  I know how it runs, my favorite stations are tuned into the stereo, I know where to find napkins hidden in the console.  I know there is a blanket in the trunk and there are some favorite cds tucked in the pockets of the seats.  I am only the 2nd owner of the car.  The car has taken me tens of thousands of miles.  To college, to a new state for a summer, to competitions, to work, to student teaching, to church and home again.

I trust my car.  Well until it makes a weird noise but even then I know that I can take it to the repair shop and after a big bill all will be well.

But God.  I can't physically see him.  Sure, I see him in the little things.  Like the sunset every night.  The lily of the valley planted outside my parents house.  The smile on my Grandma's face when the family is all together.  The trouble with trusting God is you can't really do it halfway.  It's an all or nothing sort of thing that you have to do over and over again.  The world, the universe is bigger than I could ever imagine.  There are more things in this world that I have not seen and yet God has created them all.

I have trouble flying in airplanes.  I think part of my problem stems from the fact that I am relying on 2-3 pilots who I cannot see to safely fly a hunk of metal through the air thousands of feet above ground, at hundreds of miles per hour.  My cousin is a pilot.  I know that they have lots of training and there are computer systems that are built in as security measures.  But computers can fail.  I'm not the one flying the plane.  There is nothing I can do if something goes wrong to make it better.  Sure I can help people off the plane if we are lucky enough to land somewhere semi-safely.  If there are kids I can try to calm them because my nanny/teacher instincts will kick in.  But I cannot fly a plane.  I can't read instruments in the cabin.  I can't wave a wand to keep us in the air.  But I have to trust that a person I have never met will keep me and all the people on the plane safe.  Thats a tall order.

But that's how it is with God too.  He knows what he is doing.  He has created the world and everything in it.  He knows how to fly the plane.  He knows how to recover if something goes wrong.  If we hit turbulence he knows how to guide the plane through it all.  He knows how to safely land.  All I have to do is trust.  Trust is a big deal for me.  I don't give it easily.  One verse I remember from the bible is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding."  It sticks with me because it reminds me that I am not as smart as I think I am.  I cannot possibly understand it all.  I need to place my trust in someone else.

So while I may know how to hit the brakes, turn the steering wheel, turn on the AC, and work the radio in my car it's not really the car I'm trusting.  It's me.  But the car needs to be locked.  I might be able to control what goes on in the car.  But I can't control the world around me.  I shouldn't even try, though I do.

Trust in God, but lock your car.