As an exercise for Evaluate Your Life Day I want you to picture yourself in the driver’s seat of a semi, that’s right you’re now in control of a big-rig. This isn’t a stretch of my imagination since I do this regularly as my main source of income. Let’s see if I can give you a sense of this experience for a moment.
The first order of business is to adjust the seat to make sure you can reach all of the controls. Reach down with your left hand and feel for the control for the height of your seat. Play with it until you get a comfortable level from the floor. I like to have it so my feet set naturally flat on the floor because that’s where they’ll ride when not on the pedals. Others from the hood prefer to be seated on the floor as much as possible. That’s their preference. To each his own I guess.
Now, move the seat forward so you can reach the pedals with your feet. I typically come about two notches back from full-forward with my stubby legs. Relax, this is simply an evaluation of your life. We aren’t trying to stop a deadly virus, or create a new national health care initiative, nor are we attempting to stop an international threat to Christians. If you’re inspired to tackle those after your evaluation feel free. For now just relax.
Now you need to set your mirrors to the best position for viewing what’s behind you. You should be able to glimpse the side of the trailer at the very edge of the mirror. That way you’ll see as much as possible with a minimum of blindspot issues. To transfer this to evaluating your life you need to be able to know what happened in your past so you can repeat successes and minimize mistakes. You never know when something from behind you will come speeding up and cutting you off with little warning of it. If your view of the past is skewed you’ll be caught off guard. Evaluate your past first.
Before you reach for the key to turn the engine on–I know you’re itching to feel all that power–stop and figure out where you’re going first. It won’t do you any good to drive down the road with no destination in mind. Now that you’ve looked at your past and determined what your strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes are you can decide where you want to be in the future. Map out a strategy to get there. Some folks can take the shortest route to their destination. Most of us have to take a longer course through some sort of educational experience. There’s no one right answer here.
Assuming you’ve checked to make sure you have a full tank of fuel and other fluid levels are topped off, your tires are all round and hard, and all the lights are in working order, you now have my blessing to start that engine. Oh, yeah, you’ll feel afraid. Feel very afraid. You’re about to move 80,000 pounds of chaos down the most dangerous place on earth–the american roadway. A solid prayer is definitely in order now.
Now you’ll press the clutch down and place the shift lever in first gear. No. You’re NOT ready to release the clutch, yet. There are two knobs on the dashboard that must be pushed in before you can move anywhere. Don’t get ahead of the process here. One parking brake is for the tractor the other one is for the trailer. BOTH need to be set free in order to go anywhere. For those of you who are married you know you need your spouse’s support to get to your destination. That’s why the Bible warns about being equally yoked. If your spouse thinks this is a bad idea you may need to re-evaluate your plans.
Okay, now you can release the clutch and move forward toward your future. Keep in mind each trip is reached one gear, one street, one stop sign/traffic light at a time. You can’t drive down the second street until you’ve put the first one behind you. Make your ultimate goal into smaller goals to complete your journey. Do each one in its time before you move on the the next one. You’ll get there in good time if you’ve planned well and God blesses.
And one more thing to remember, share the road, even with that bozo who just cut you off. You can’t control their attitude, but you can decide which one you’ll have.
Keep smiling. Â Wade
