CAN’T BACK-UP
Back on the farm in my early teens we had a 60 Dodge pickup that we used for chores and going to the feed store to pick up supplies. It was a tin can on wheels. I don’t know what my uncle paid for it but I couldn’t have been very much.
My experience with this truck has kept me out of Dodge dealership ever since. You see, it developed two problems. One, the heater didn't work. Two, reverse didn't work. You can go without a heater (after all we live in Texas), but it's hard to drive a pickup that doesn't go into reverse. I said hard, but not impossible.
I learned to drive with a “can’t back-up” mentality. I wouldn't pull up and park behind other farm equipment unless it was on a slope and I could roll my way back away from them. In parking lots, I looked for two empty spaces, so I could pull through the first and park in the second, as if I had backed in. I got pretty good at it, making it through most situations not driving backwards.
This is a terrible way to drive your vehicle, but it's not a bad way to live your life. If you can learn to live without going in reverse, you can triumph over many of the restrictions that we place on ourselves.
There are many times when we say, "I know what I want to do, I know what I ought to do, but I have this history of failure...I tried this before and it didn't work." That's the driving-in-reverse way of thinking. It's the opposite of what we're called to do.
Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14; “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Are you stuck in reverse? Are there some things at this moment that you need to forget, as you make a conscience effort to drive forward? Forget what's in the rear-view mirror, forget what lies behind. Look ahead and move forward on toward the prize.
My experience with this truck has kept me out of Dodge dealership ever since. You see, it developed two problems. One, the heater didn't work. Two, reverse didn't work. You can go without a heater (after all we live in Texas), but it's hard to drive a pickup that doesn't go into reverse. I said hard, but not impossible.
I learned to drive with a “can’t back-up” mentality. I wouldn't pull up and park behind other farm equipment unless it was on a slope and I could roll my way back away from them. In parking lots, I looked for two empty spaces, so I could pull through the first and park in the second, as if I had backed in. I got pretty good at it, making it through most situations not driving backwards.
This is a terrible way to drive your vehicle, but it's not a bad way to live your life. If you can learn to live without going in reverse, you can triumph over many of the restrictions that we place on ourselves.
There are many times when we say, "I know what I want to do, I know what I ought to do, but I have this history of failure...I tried this before and it didn't work." That's the driving-in-reverse way of thinking. It's the opposite of what we're called to do.
Remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14; “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Are you stuck in reverse? Are there some things at this moment that you need to forget, as you make a conscience effort to drive forward? Forget what's in the rear-view mirror, forget what lies behind. Look ahead and move forward on toward the prize.
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