Jeremy L. Berg

I’m reposting this DI classic series of posts from a few years ago. Enjoy!

As a youth pastor I face a room full of teenagers every Wednesday and try my best to teach them how to travel faithfully the road of Christian discipleship. For the past month, each Tuesday and Thursday evenings have afforded me the added responsibility of teaching a room full of bright-eyed, overconfident teens how to drive a car safely on all the other roads of life.

 Yep, I am an official state certified driving instructor.  It’s scary to think that I have quite literally put over 500 young 16 year olds onto the public roadways in the past 4 years. If you’ve “met” any of them out there on the road, I apologize in advance.

As I wrap up another 30 hours of classroom driving instruction tonight I want to take this opportunity to share some reflections on the many parallels there are between Drivers Education and Christian Discipleship.  You’d be surprised how similar these two classrooms really are!  So, buckle up and sit back as we reminisce a bit on our first days behind the wheel and apply some of those lessons to our journey of faith!

DAY 1: THIS IS NOT A GAME

Teenagers are notoriously overconfident, daring and invincible in their own eyes.  When was the last time any one over 18 was caught burying the needle on an open country road without a thought of the deer that might unexpectedly dart out in front of them?  Well, OK, some of us never really grow up!

The first day of class I spend most of the time trying to persuade the class that driving is not a game.  Unlike most activities they have been involved in up until now, a mistake or momentary lapse in judgment behind the wheel can have life-or-death consequences. You fail a test and you get a bad grade.  You fail to obey your curfew and you get grounded.  You fail to play tough defense and you lose the game.  Life goes on.  But if you fail to look both ways, you may just get killed.

The Lesson: This is no game.  The roads are dangerous and poor choices can have ultimate consequences.  You need to pay attention and be responsible for your actions.  You are not invincible. We show video after video of broken-hearted parents and siblings sharing tragic stories of young lives ruined and loved ones lost in fatal crashes.  We are not invincible.  Life is more fragile than we would like to admit.  This is no game.

And so when I face my youth group on Wednesday nights and begin to unpack the realities of the Christian life and the gospel of Jesus Christ, I would do well to reinforce these very same lessons.  Do we take our faith too lightly — more like a religious game?  Do we realize that the decisions we and our loved ones make in relationship to God will have eternal, life or death consequences?  Do we think we are invincible and take our days for granted, forgetting that we are only one breath away from eternity?

So, day one of drivers education is kind of a wake up call or reality check.  I think we could all use a spiritual reality check now and then as well. How’s your walk today?

NEXT TIME: “Fatal Distractions”