Flat Tires and Cracked Rims

I looked down for one second and the next thing I knew was my car was skidding over the median in the middle of the road. Boom! There went the front drivers side tire. As I pulled over to the side of the road to change my tire, it didn’t help my mood any that it was drizzling rain.

As I got out of the car a nice young man pulled up and helped me change the tire. When I offered to pay him something he said, “No, this is just one brother in Christ helping another.” His words meant a great deal to me and gave me some unexpected comfort.

When I took the tire in to be replaced the next morning I discovered that not only was the tire bad, but also I chipped the alloy rim. Once again I could feel the anger within. I had nobody to blame but myself.

Our life in Christ is often like this situation. We move along through life dealing with what Life presents us, and then wham! Something disrupts our lives seemly out of nowhere.  Our faith is blown out and our trust in God becomes cracked and chipped like that tire rim. We feel like this is the end when it is really only a minor inconvenience.

Life in this world is illusive and full of unexpected hazards and difficulties. Does this mean that faith doesn’t work and is somehow an ideal hoped for but never obtained? Absolutely not! We often lose sight of the road as we travel, and end up in ditches (or running over medians). Rather than despair we simply turn our attention to God and say, “Well, my way didn’t work. Look where it landed me. Thy will be done.” Or perhaps as in my case a servant of God shows up and provides assistance.

Despite what we face in life, God will not abandon us. Things may turn out differently than we planned but God will heal those chips and cracks in our hearts. We all run over spiritual medians and have spiritual blowouts. Yet God will always get us moving in the right direction once again. Things may not happen as fast as we like, but nevertheless Christ is there, healing us in his time.

And that is what we have to remember, we live on God’s time, not our own. The damage we do to ourselves are healed in Christ’s loving care usually over a period of time and not immediately.