Stuck Gears

​Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  John 14:27

When I was a teenager my dad had a blue 1950 Chevy pickup that we called the “Blue Goose.”  My brothers thought it was cool; it had a rounded cab, a fifth window and the gear shift on the steering column. It was a classic.  I, however, had a whole different opinion.  The rule at our house was before you could drive a car with an automatic transmission, you had to learn to drive the truck.  If you had a finesse for driving a stick you didn’t have too much trouble with the truck but if you weren’t patient and didn’t do everything right, the gears would get stuck, which required putting on the park brake and getting out to open the hood and fiddle with something under the hood to “un-stick” it. As a teenage girl on the edge of driving I used to have nightmares about that darn truck!  I didn’t want to be the one holding up a line of traffic at the stop sign because I had to fiddle under the hood to make the truck go again.  As I was beginning to prepare myself for going off to college on a bike, a wonderful thing happened.  My high school English teacher who was also my brother’s basketball coach stopped over one day after school.  I remember answering the door in a panic wondering what I could have done at school to warrant a visit from a high school teacher! 
I quickly came to my senses and realized the reason he was at our door had to be because of something my brother did…not me!  As it turned out, the visit had nothing to do with us, but the outcome of that visit impacted my life in a fabulous way!  Mr. Cannon came that day to see if dad would be interested in selling the “Blue Goose”. Much to my life-altering delight, dad said yes, and I was saved from the horror of the stuck gears!
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Looking back, I’m still thankful that I was saved from the “Blue Goose!”  I panicked at the thought of being “stuck” and not knowing how to get “un-stuck” so I could move on.  I think sometimes in our daily life we can get stuck the same way I was afraid that old pickup was going to. We can become stuck in our worry, and our vision of the future and in our fear of the unknown.  Mr. Cannon was the man who saved me from that particular worry, but when the relief wore off, I probably let myself entertain another worry in its place. I’m sure I probably let myself get “stuck” in a whole different spot. 
 
I read the other day that humans are the only creatures God made with the ability to anticipate future events.  As you might imagine, that is both a blessing and a curse!  Some days I’m grateful for that ability and other days I think I’d rather be a puppy, bounding around without a care beyond the current moment. After some prayer and thought on the topic, here’s what I came up with…God gave us that ability so we could trust Him. It is through trusting Him that we grow closer to Him and His will for our life.  How often though do we get “stuck” in our worry?  When the “Blue Goose” came to mind, I realized there are a million times in my life that I got “stuck” in my worry, and it was all such an enormous waste of time and energy.  Sarah Young, in her book Jesus Calling, reminds us to gently call out the name of Jesus when we feel our gears getting stuck in worry or dwelling on future events.  He’s there in an instant when we call His name and expectantly wait for Him to deliver us from our worry with His sweet peace.  We have two choices, we can either enjoy the presence of worries or we can enjoy the presence of Christ working through our worries and stuck gears.  Because we have the ability to anticipate future events, worry is an occasional “given” however, the way we work through the worry is important and it’s the perfect way to build trust in the Father who adores us.  Don’t pray for a day free from worry; thank Him for the worry and then pray for the strength and trust to call out the name of Jesus so He can un-stick your gears allowing you to move forward and come closer to Him.
 
A Seed To Plant:  Write down all the things that are making you feel “stuck”.  Hold that list in your hands and say, “God, Father of Peace, please take the worry of ______from my life and replace it with your peace allowing me to trust You more.”

Blessings on your day!