As I write this article, I celebrate my 49th anniversary of being a licensed driver. As with all males, I think I am a superior driver. The truth is I am just good enough not to hurt me or those walking down the sidewalks. I spend way too much time reading bumper stickers or watching what other drivers are doing in addition to driving their cars.
Last week I was driving a loaner vehicle while mine was being serviced. It was the luxury vehicle for a certain car company. That car had all the dials, buzzers, gadgets, and toys that you want in your luxury vehicle. It was power everything. It was keyless. To start a keyless vehicle, you put your foot on the brake and push a button. I am used to that because I have a hybrid vehicle that starts in that fashion. The loaner vehicle was not a hybrid; it was an old-fashioned internal combustion engine car.
My grandfather turned me loose driving his car about three years before I was legal.
Much of my self-taught Drivers-Ed took place in a 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe. I don’t think you really drove the car, so much as pointing it in the direction you wished to travel. The only luxury in the car was an AM radio. The 1949 Plymouth had a starter button too! On some cold mornings, you turned on the ignition, depressed the clutch, pushed the starter button, and pumped the gas pedal for all you were worth. Starting a car of that era on a cold morning was one of the ways to prove your male automotive competency skills.
That was the amusing moment I had driving the loaner vehicle. I started that engine by pushing a button with my foot on the brake. What happened to pumping the gas pedal? What happened to the choke? If automakers are going to return to the days of the push button starters, they could bring back some of the fun we used to have convincing a car to start. While they are at it, you think they could bring back the flooded carburetor smell and vapor lock? Cars have changed over these 49 years I have been driving them legally.
Sometimes I feel like I am not doing a good job keeping up with change.
There are times when I feel like I am not doing a good job of keeping up with Jesus. He asks me to go and do and I would rather not. He asks me to love and forgive and I would rather not. He asks me to look deep into my life and my heart to see those things that are keeping me from following Him closely and I would rather not. There are times I need to look at myself in the mirror and I would rather not.
There are Sunday mornings when we preachers jump out of bed. We can’t wait to get to church and to see you and preach the love of God in Jesus Christ. There are other Sundays we wake up and pull the covers over our head. We think about going to church and preaching and we would rather not.
Sunday when you get up and think about church and think, “I would rather not.” We preachers know how you feel. Jesus knows how you feel. The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was Jesus saying to God about the cross, “I would rather not.”
Jesus did go to the cross for you and me. Preachers will get up Sunday and overcome the “I would rather not” feeling to preach the gospel. Some great blessings are found in overcoming that “I would rather not” objection. How about it?
