I can’t drive 55

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Speed Limit – that sounds so…..I don’t know – restrictive. I prefer to think of those signs as kind of suggested speed ranges – especially if I’m familiar with the road. I know where the curves are. I know if there is a bus stop ahead. I know where the deer tend to cross…..and where the police tend to sit and wait for rambunctious drivers like me.

And I get impatient with other drivers. You know …..cautious drivers – who really OBEY the limit; the one guy in the world who actually drives 34.5 miles per hour in a 35 zone. I get stuck behind a driver like that and I slow down for a little bit. But I get antsy. My thumbs start to tap the steering wheel as I strangle it in a death grip. I start to hum and I take big, impatient breaths and I have been known to actually pray that he turns at the next street crossing.

Full speed ahead!
Gas is on the right!
If it gets any greener it will puke!

Life in the fast lane …..

As I’ve been speeding through life this week – my strange brain has been envisioning God like the stereotypical, movie image of a policeman…..big broad shoulders, weapons strapped on every inch of his uniform, slowly walking up to my car, adjusting those mirrored sunglasses slightly as he peers out from under that funky broad brimmed hat – (always strategically positioned so that the sun is glaring into my eyes and I have to squint – Oh! YOU know!!!!) …….”License and registration, please, ma’am.” He looks at the horrible photo image of me, then looks at the real me, then looks back at the picture.

“Where are you in such a hurry to get to today…….ma’am?” he drawls.

And I have no real answer. Not really in a hurry to get to work. It isn’t like the store is going to sell the last gallon of milk if I don’t get there soon. Is it really important that we are the first ones at practice, to get the best parking spot, to hurry up and…..wait?

As I look back at some of the really crazy times in my life – the times when my life has been in hyper-drive – hurtling through time and space – in that never ending rush to get……somewhere – I think that God has intentionally thrown out speed bumps to slow me down.

That illness that meant bed rest. That financial burden that meant we couldn’t. That issue that said pay attention to family. God will use whatever means He has to in order to get you to slow down and focus on Him. Speed bumps…. detours – to keep you on the right track……stop signs – to make you wait for his direction……and speed limits.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…..” Psalm 37:7

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