Sobering Thoughts

I learned long ago that students love spring breaks. So do teachers. This past Tuesday my wife and I drove to Michigan to see our son and his wife. We have recently purchased a new (to us) minivan, and wanted to take it on the road to see if it was as comfortable on long trips as it has been going back and forth to work. It was.

The only real problem with the van was that the CD player in the dash did not function. Upon learning this, our son suggested that we replace the entire radio unit with a new one that would also allow us to play my I-pod through the car’s stereo. I liked that idea. I’ve had the I-pod (nicknamed Boris for the short, incompetent spy on the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons) for about two year and a half years, and in an older vehicle could play it via the cassette deck. The new van lacks a cassette deck.

While in the store we happened to look at GPS (Global Positioning System) units. Our son twisted my arm into buying one (Actually, all he said was “Have you ever thought of getting one of those for you and Mom?”). It is a nice unit: good maps, and a pleasant voice that announces instructions. Since my I-pod is named Boris and the new device has a female voice, what could I do but name the GPS unit Natasha, after the cartoon character’s smarter other half?

We toyed with the unit for several days locally around our son’s place, but today was the real test – driving home from southeastern Michigan. When I first put in the destination, the selected route took us from Indianapolis down to Cincinnati and I-75. I prefer going via Louisville and Nashville and over to I-75 at Chattanooga. I told Natasha to go through Louisville, but forgot about Nashville. At every major road south of Louisville, she tried to get me to turn east, to head over to I-75. I kept ignoring her. This continued until we were about 60 miles from Nashville, when she finally gave up and recalculated our route via I-24 like I wanted all along.

I saw several things during our trip that re-enforced the fact that out on life’s highways, one needs more than knowledge of where to go. There are many risks on the road, and every decision a driver makes carries with it a certain risk. Some risks we can’t avoid. Other risks we run at our own choosing, sometimes basing them on foolish decisions. Early Friday evening the four of us were headed south on US 31 just north of South Bend, IN. In the north-bound lanes, my son and I saw three motorcyclists going slightly faster than the accompanying traffic. One of the cyclists was standing up on his bike, with the front wheel about five feet off the ground, doing a “wheelie” at a speed in excess of 70 miles an hour. I'd say that constitutes high risk behavior bearing fairly good odds of bad consequences. Then, today, for about 40 miles between Indianapolis and Louisville, we encountered a young man in a small, fancy pickup, weaving in and out of traffic - never signaling, following closely and then tearing into gaps in neighboring lanes. He obviously assumed he could handle anything the other drivers might throw his way. This was another example of high risk behavior with good odds of bad consequences. The only funny thing was that he never got much more than 100 yards ahead of us in all that time.

As I listened to Natasha on the way home, continuously trying to re-direct me to the most favorable path, I thought of the passage in scripture where the Lord promises to whisper behind us whether to turn to the right or to the left. You see, God also has a GPS – a “Godly Positioning System” – which He provides each of us. Like Natasha’s text and maps, God’s GPS also has text and a map showing us the preferred routes (as well as consequences of poor decisions). His GPS also includes a voice-system. The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts continually. And, like Natasha, whenever we go off course, or make poor behavioral decisions, God’s GPS recalculates the way home from wherever we are. Neat! It’s too bad so many of us continue to choose to add high-risk choices to our lives.

There is no way for us to know what happened. Whatever it was, the end result was terrible. There is a rest area on south-bound I-65 just south of Bowling Green, KY. The road has three lanes in each direction; the speed limit is 70. It had obviously just happened. Cars and trucks were just pulling over to the side of the road. I could see it up ahead of me in the outside lane, but because of the suddenness and heavy traffic, could not get out of the middle lane to the inner lane, and had to pass by very closely. A motorcyclist had run into something (or something into him, we couldn’t tell). Unfortunately, the state of his body indicated that the end came quickly and violently. He had accepted to run the normal risks of riding motorcycles in heavy traffic. I have no idea if he had added unnecessary risks. In any case, he’d run the risks, and the odds caught up with him. He didn’t make it home tonight.

For the final 200-plus miles, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had been running any spiritual risks at the time. If so, did the odds catch him there, too? Or will he make it home?

Don’t go anywhere without God’s GPS. And please use it!

Dr. G

I Can Even Do It Without Thniking!

Routine. Route –ine: the habit of following the same route or path consistently, without variation or change. As in, I had a routine day, or, it was a routine play for the shortstop. Always the same – monotonous, boring. Something I could almost sleep through and still get it done.

I suspect you know exactly what I’m talking about. So much of what we do, especially as adults, is routine. We’ve learned the process of our job so well that we can almost do it without thinking. We’ve eaten pretty much the same meal before; we don’t give the food much mind as we sit there. The fork almost moves automatically.

I’ve noticed that as I get ready to shave in the morning, I follow a routine. I put the hot washcloth to my face the same number of times, shake the shaving cream can the same number of times, and spread the shaving cream onto my face in the same pattern every day. The razor makes contact with my face at the same point every day.

Do you have any routines? I bet you do. Having routine lives may be somewhat boring if you take the time to think about it, but it isn’t necessarily bad or dangerous. But it can lend itself to inattention or daydreaming, since we don’t have to (or perhaps, better said, don’t think to) pay attention.

Driving to work has become routine for me. It has reached the point that I don’t pay that much attention as I drive in the mornings.

The problem is that this morning I was unattentative to the extreme. We were about two-thirds of the way to her school, breezing along in the dark, when I asked my dozing wife, “Where are we?” I had suddenly noticed that nothing seemed “routine.” Of course, she had no idea at all where we were; she’d been asleep for about ten minutes. As we continued down the road, I tried to see familiar landmarks as my mind backtracked to the last known landmark I’d seen.
That would have been the shopping center with the traffic light, I decided. I knew I’d made the correct turn there. After that, I didn’t remember anything. I didn’t know if I had made the next turn. I didn’t remember passing what should have been the next major landmark. My routine had become unroutine.

I decided to turn around at the next intersection, and head back to find my route. As it turned out, I had flown by what should have been my next turn and continued beyond by about two miles, where I finally came to my senses. I was able to get back on my route, and, paying close attention this time, get us to work safely.

During the last part of my drive, I considered the routine nature of life. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can intentionally vary the way we do things, the way we approach things, the routes we take daily. I can intentionally interact with people I might otherwise let go by (routinely). I might rearrange things on my desk rather than let everything sit where it is (routinely).

Then I began to think of my spiritual life. Has it become only a routine? Do I go to church as a routine? Or do I go intending to praise, share and receive? Is my prayer life routine to the point that I continue to pray for overseas missionaries, even though those folks returned to the States several years ago? Do I read the Bible as a routine, or do I attempt to put myself into the passage, trying to make it come alive in my mind?

I’m going to start doing a few things to try to break the routine. I will intentionally interact with a co-worker daily on a spiritual basis. I know enough of them who’ve got heavy loads. A word of encouragement and cheer to help break the monotony of their routines, that will be step one. As I drive, instead of letting my mind wander, I’m going to start praying for the people in the houses we pass. And I’m going to make sure I ask the Lord to direct me to someone in need daily. That will surely break the routine. If your life is routine, maybe you can think of some things to change, too.

Have we been at this intersection before? I don’t recall that blue house with yellow shutters!

Dr. G
(and, yes, I know the word "thinking" is misspelled in the title)