Get In Your Seat and Buckle Up

Ivan can be a challenging boy. He will go his own way, walk his own path and sing his own song. Getting him to cooperate requires either a quick reminder to the backside or a very long and patient battle of reason. Sometimes both are needed.

Getting into the van and getting buckled is one of the battles he likes to engage in and I really think it is because when the whole family is buckled in he knows, subconsciously or not, that we are going to coax him instead of directly deal with his hinder parts because of the hassle of getting unbuckled, getting out of the van, walking around and pulling him out of the van and spanking him. It prolongs the entire process of leaving and then we have to all sit in the van and listen to him cry (loudly) for a while. Completely unpleasant.

Recently I just started backing out of the garage without him being buckled. He wasn't even in his seat and I knew it. I put the van in reverse and hit the gas so that when I stopped in the driveway to close the garage door it would jerk him to his seat. It worked. He was so mad and he hurt his foot a little in the process. (Don't freak, it was just a scratch and I didn't leave without him being fully secured.)

I talked to him about it and used my least merciful voice to explain that he knew what he was supposed to be doing and the consequences were his own choice.

As I was driving away I thought...hmmm. Isn't that how we are with God sometimes? We know where were supposed to be, what we're supposed to be doing or not doing and who we're supposed to be doing it with but we insist on control of our lives. We tend toward stubbornness because we aren't yet convinced of God's best intentions for our lives.

How often do we hear the words, "if God is so loving, why did this happen to me?" I think Ivan was asking that same question about his mom, as he picked himself up off the van floor the other day. The answer isn't a spiritual reckoning of our souls to God's just ways. Sometimes (NOT ALWAYS), bad things happen to good people because they aren't meeting the basic and simplest demands of kingdom living.

God has an agenda. He has a kingdom He is caring for and a world of lost souls He wants to show His love to. Sometimes He patiently coaxes us to work with Him, but sometimes His Kingdom work just needs to get done with or without us. When we as Christians are seeking first our kingdom instead of His, we're going to find ourselves stumbling a bit as the church takes off before we get our commitment securely fastened.

When the Christian road of life starts getting uncomfortable the first thing you need to do is not whine and moan about Satan's attack on your life...the first thing you should do is check your seat belt. It may not be so much that your God is driving recklessly, it may be that you aren't as committed as you need to be. Putting yourself in a position of submission may seem like you are tying yourself down, but it is the best way to get where you are going safely.

Have you ever sat in church and wished a friend or relative were listening to the word of encouragement or even conviction that you know could be the exact answer they've been needing in their life? Have you ever reversed that thought and as you were sitting at home on a Wednesday night because of a horrendous day at work, wondered if maybe the frustration you can't shake might have melted away with a good worship service? You really should ask yourself that. I can't tell you the number of times I've dreamed up some really good excuses to stay home, but went anyway only to find that my fatigue and irritation were no match for the Word given.

Constant exposure to the sun will slowly make a tone change in your skin and constant exposure to the Word will make a tone change in your joy. When we make excuses to stay home from church, watch TV instead of read the Word, talk to friends instead of kneel in prayer, when we put ANYTHING, even the good things in front of God...we are refusing to take the road we're on seriously. We are refusing to do our part, refusing to take seriously the great commission God has given everyone who names His Name.

When Kris and I face a challenge, be it financial, physical or otherwise, one of the first things we do is make a security check. Is there anywhere that we have allowed ourselves to unbuckle the safety harness God has offered us? Often times it's nothing to do with our actions, it could be a spiritual attack or it could be just a mingling of unfortunate circumstances, but sometimes it's a loose seat belt. When we realize that, we make every effort to repent and correct the issue at hand. As David so eloquently said in Psalm 139, "see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

That "way everlasting" is the direction God is always headed. Nothing He does is temporal or careless. If you want to see the greatest adventures life has, than sit down and buckle up. He has more for you to see, hear, experience and share than you can ever imagine.