| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
04 May 2005 08:11:45 AM |
| Object: |
Purpose Driven Life - May 4 |
Fix Those Brakes!
by John Fischer
"I couldn't repair your brakes so I made your horn louder."
Now I can no more cite the reference for this quote than I can confirm half
the stuff that circulates around the Internet as authentic. (I just heard
from a serviceman who knows my penchant for Starbucks that my favorite
company had allegedly turned down a request to provide coffee for the
soldiers in Iraq because it strongly opposed the war effort. Of course the
next day he found out the story was a hoax, and my Starbucks source affirmed
that the company has always been in support of the troops there.)
But this one I just snatched out of cyberspace. I have no idea where it came
from or who to credit for it, so if I'm violating someone's right to
ownership, I apologize in advance, but I can't resist the pathetic, but
accurate metaphor in the statement. Isn't it just like human nature to
compensate for one weakness by overdoing another? "I couldn't repair your
brakes so I made your horn louder."
Suddenly, I see a whole society racing out of control, blaring its horn all
the way. Of course, what good does that do? Inevitably you will hit
something and come to a gruesome and painful stop. It's a crash course with
no direction - a foolish way to solve a problem. But don't we live our lives
a lot like this? Our brakes go out so we speed up, blowing our horns until
we run into something.
One of the tragedies about this observation is that it reminds us that
people are often blowing their horns but no one seems to be able to hear.
Prisons are full of lives that crashed, and no one bothered to hear their
horns blowing. Kids crash the same way. Some blow their horns, but it's
already too late.
The best way to avoid this kind of tragedy is to realize we were made for
God. A life of purpose puts the brakes on our running out of control.
Allowing time to worship and seek God helps us re-center ourselves on God's
purposes for our lives, and reconfirm our life-course. When we periodically
stop for "checkups," we can spot problems before they become dangerous.
Worship, in other words, allows us to fix our brakes.
As I keep thinking along these lines, I suddenly can envision a serious
head-on accident scene where two cars are tangled in twisted metal with
little hope for the occupants. And in my ear, I can hear a horn stuck in the
on position, signaling way to late, that at least one of these cars never
got its brakes fixed. The horn is only useful when you can stop and do
something about the situation. We need to set our purposes while we can. And
don't forget to check your brakes.
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