I don’t know when it happened, but I fell in love with driving on M-10 aka “The Lodge”. When I was younger, I only took it if a freeway was really jacked up, but now I drive on it everyday. One time, late at night it got me out of a huge traffic jam on 75, it was kind of one of those “I’ll just hop on the Davison to the Lodge and I’ll avoid the traffic, now it’s just become my way of driving. I don’t even think about it most days, my car just seems to go that way now. I’ve learned some things from the Lodge over the last 6 months or so. One of the reasons why I love the Lodge is because it’s like a vein that runs right through the middle of the heart of Detroit.
To get onto the Lodge from the Davison… it’s a left side merge. This is not the norm, and sometimes it’s difficult. When merging, I have got to be ready for anything that comes my way. There is always some knucklehead who is selfish and doesn’t want to let people merge. Well, sometimes being a Christian seems that way. Surrendering to God and to others seems… well… unnatural. It just does, sometimes I want to look out for #1 (which I’m lead to believe by the world is me…) but that doesn’t really take me where I want to be in life. And of course, selfish people will always try to get in my way, take me out. But following Jesus gets me where I need to be even when it seems abnormal. Who wants to be normal anyway?
Today, which is actually how I came up with the idea for this post, there was a guy in the fast lane, going about 40 mph. Now, let me give you a lesson about The Lodge, the minimum speed is 70. I was thinking about how in my walk with Jesus and the walks of others I have witnessed, I’m going 70mph, or maybe faster, chasing Jesus and all of a sudden I slow down and all the people behind me have to slow down too. Now sometimes the person who slows down needs to slow down for a good reason (this has happened to me) and sometimes they just slow down because they feel like it. And the person behind them sometimes slows down too, and then the person behind them… and so on and so on, and SOMETIMES one of those cars (people) get caught up in an accident because they were blindly following and BOOM! Smashed up and wrecked wondering why the heck that happened! Ugh. I was just thinking about how important it is to follow God and a fast and steady pace. Never stopping, chasing, pursuing.
Other times I’ve been driving and sometimes swerves out of their lane… and I usually notice when they are trying to come into my lane. Now I usually freak out about that because if I am honest, I don’t worry about them, I worry about me, I worry about how it will affect me, smash my car, rental, making me late. Again, one of those all about me moments, but really, I should care if people are swerving off the road, on the freeway or in their walk. Sin is a slippery slope, and if we are not careful, a small swerve can put us in a ditch. I have to make sure that I am careful to stay on the right path myself, stay completely in line with where God has me, where He wants me now, and where He wants to be go. One small swerve, and it’s a long time to recover (but thankfully with His grace, there are some lessons).
I’m thankful for God’s grace, and the Holy Spirit speaking to me in ways that are relevant and real in my life, reminding me to stay close to Him, focus on Him. That’s my direction, my path.
Psalm 119:33-40
Teach me, LORD, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.[b]
34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.[c]
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.
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