I was thinking this morning that everyday things and activities can preach sermons to ourselves. Here’s mine today.
On Tuesday mornings I generally go to breakfast with a group of Christian friends. I leave the house just before seven, and we catch up with each other’s lives, eat a Cracker Barrel breakfast, and leave around nine, encouraged and refreshed for the day.
I thought about the process today and preached a sermon to myself. Here’s generally, how it went.
First, the process. I drive a new Honda CRV hybrid. It’s a delightful experience. This is not an advertisement, necessarily, but since I just renewed my driver’s license, good for eight years (that means I’ll be ninety when and if I renew it again), driving has been on my mind recently. So, it’s the topic of my “sermon.”
First, I put my foot on the brake and push the POWER button. The car is silent, there’s no engine noise, but there is a musical sound my grandchildren call the angel choir. It is to warn pedestrians the car is there.
Then, I engage the reverse and a camera takes a picture of what’s behind me, and alongside me. It guides my movement.
Then, I drive forward. If there’s an impediment nearby, it brakes the car. If I attempt to change lanes and there’s somone near me, it beeps a warning. If I as much as stray inches toward either boundary of the lane markers, it gently correct my wheel and sends me a bright yellow message that I’m heading for trouble.
It turns on the lights automatically. It controls the temperature to my arranged settings. It plays Christian music on the radio. It will stop me with warning sounds and direct action if something happens right in front of me that signifies danger.
It won’t let me leave the car without my key fob. It locks automatically, and recognizes me when I return by unlocking the door and making a welcome beep.
Now, here’s the sermon.
All this technology has told me it’s almost like a commitment between me and my vehicle. It knows me and wants to guide me safely to my destination and ultimately home again. Isn’t that what our heavenly Father does for us?
My car takes me seemlessly from one place to the other by its mapping system. God directs my path and helps me with the decisions along the way.
Just as my vehicle protects me from dangers around me, God puts hedges of protection around me in my everyday decisions because I walk with Him. I ask Him to keep me in His will, and he guides my thoughts through scripture, through the songs and spiritual songs I’m hearing on the radio, and through the prayer life He and I have established.
I can rest assured that there is nothing behind me that will hinder my moving forward, and that as I move forward, His protection is ahead of me, beside me, and behind me, just like Chris Rock’s song about angel armies tells me of God’s protection.
And, although it doesn’t happen often that I stray out of my lane, I know God will gently nudge me back, with a yellow caution, if I trend toward sinful diversion or think outside His clear path for me.
Furthermore, I know He will, like the automatic braking system, warn me with bells ringing and ultimately taking over the brake, to protect me and others of impending disaster.
Then, when I pull into the garage, safely at home, I hear the angel chorus. When I reach the eternal home, I expect to hear the angelic hosts singing.
So, that’s my new car sermon. Did you enjoy the ride? I did, immensely, because I know God is with me in my travels through this life. This is just today’s mini-sermon.
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