Driving "Lessons"

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ken McGarity, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.

Recently on a Saturday afternoon outing, my family and I encountered a situation that left us having a discussion about the deeper things in life.

In our area we experienced severe flooding months ago and as a result many roads have been washed out. Our destination that particular Saturday was through an area that is just far enough from home to be familiar, but to far away for us to be current on it’s condition. As we were traveling I remembered that when the floods had occurred that the road had been damaged and a detour initiated. However, I recalled that truth at a point where it would have been shorter to continue ahead and just see what developed as opposed to turning around as a “just in case” measure.

We traveled several miles further and lo and behold there it was. The sign on the side of the road letting us know that the road was closed to “thru traffic” and was available to residents only.

What was interesting was that our 15 year old teenage daughter sitting in the back seat and aware of the conversation covered on the subject in previous miles simply said “ok, I guess we will have to turn around." But…, in my mind I am thinking, well may – just maybe, they actually have it finished enough so you could squeeze on through. I mean at this point it was like a 10 mile detour to go all the way back and around. So I say, “let’s just check it out.” My wife and I looked at each other, gave it a nod of agreement and we started to proceed down the indicated closed road. What happened over the next few minutes was a battle of deeper ideas and perspectives.

As we moved forward my daughter stood strong on her stance that the sign indicated that the path ahead was not a good one and that there was no sense in moving forward. My argument was that maybe if we went further down the road that we would discover that we could make it after all. My wife found herself in the referee position as she could appreciate both perspectives along with the ideas and personalities behind them. With each new warning sign my daughter became increasingly upset and concerned with my decision. Even to the point of feeling that it wasn’t just a mistake but was also putting all of us in danger of possibly even breaking the law. Her stress level went through the roof and you could here it in her voice. She was genuinely concerned. And I was genuinely stubborn enough to continue with my “let’s just see what’s up ahead” ideology. Tensions got high in the midst of it all as we each made our case.

Long story short – after several warnings the road was ultimately impassible and we had to turn around and take the detour.

What lessons did we learn?

• When a person’s conscience says something is a bad idea, take note.
• What a blessing it is to know that someone you care about is strong enough to confront you when you are going the wrong way.
• Be hungry to regain the youthful spiritual innocence that you have lost as an adult.
• When your kids see you doing something that to them is inappropriately “risky” it damages your character and brings them into a place that feels very unsafe.
• When you are confronted with a sign that the road up ahead in your life is dangerous, pay attention.
• When your friends and family can see that you are making a mistake and warning you, listen.
• It doesn’t matter how much you have to backtrack, avoiding disaster is worth it.
• When you are thinking “maybe I can get away with this regardless of the warning, expect to be disappointed.
• There are not too many instances in life when the warning doesn’t apply to you too. You don’t get to be the exception.
• There is never a good time to make a bad decision.
• The safer journey isn’t so bad after all even if it takes a lot longer and it is a lot further to get you where you need to be.
• God can use everyday situations to teach you a lot about life, your family and yourself on a Saturday afternoon drive.