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Let Me Drive the Car

Back in the early 2000's when I was younger, wilder, and without a wife, mortgage, and a kid, I was really into cars.  No, not working on them, my brother Jordan got all those skills.  I was into buying and selling them, driving them, fixing them up, and keeping them clean.  I never had the fanciest car in town or anything like that (though I probably acted like I did). 

But during this time, my best friend had a Chevrolet Camaro Z28 with all kinds of modifications on it.  The car looked amazing and could back it up with nearly 400 horsepower.  We regularly washed cars together, cruised together, and yes took pictures of our cars together so we knew each other's cars pretty well.  I had helped wash it, ridden in the back seat before, and even ridden shotgun. 

But one night, he asked if I wanted to drive.  And like any young guy who had only driven SUV's and Hondas at the time, I said yes and was in the driver's seat before he had a chance to change his mind.  There was nothing new about the car.  It still had the same look, the same sound, the same smell.  But for the first time I was behind the wheel and I was the one pushing the pedal, truly feeling the power coming from the engine.  Finally sitting in that driver's seat was totally different from any other spot of the car.  Pushing that gas pedal was all the good words you can use to describe an experience; awesome, amazing, exhilarating, etc.  But this was the same car I had ridden in countless times.  How was this experience different?  Because I was driving.

Our Bible study can sometimes be the same way.  A lot of people come to church when it's cleaned up for VBS, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening activities, and maybe even Wednesday nights.  We may even sit in a small group and listen to a class leader or teacher and they let us ride along with them.  We might even start to get our hands dirty cleaning up some by helping set up tables or literally doing carwash fundraisers.

But if you want to see someone's expression change, you want to see their perception of the Bible change, let them drive.  Teach them to search the scripture for themselves, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal truth.  Let me tell you, the first I read a passage of scripture and saw it for more than words on a page, it was like being back behind the wheel of that Z28.  God's Word is full of so many answers, so much truth, and so many good things, we just have to search it.  And listening to a teacher is great and all, but when you get to drive the car, wow, just wow!

"Do YOUR best to present YOURself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15

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