Time To Change Lanes

     I was on my way to Richmond this afternoon to meet up with a friend and the idea for this post came to me. When I was in high school, the thing that everyone looked forward to was learning how to drive. A bunch of us even would get up at the crack of dawn just so we could take the 7:30 driver's training class our school offered. At the end of the class, I went and took the test to get my permit and,even though I passed it on the first try, the need to get my license never hit me. In fact, I never actually did until I was a sophomore in college. As a result of my late blooming, I never took the follow up the that high school driver's training class where you drive around with someone so, in essence, I never actually "learned" how to drive. What I know of driving I learned from watching my parents and friends and so even though I've now been driving for several years, there are still aspects of it that scare me. The freeway is one of those aspects. There's just something about traveling at that high rate of speed with so many other cars that makes me nervous. I think about whether the other drivers have had as little technical training as I have or if they're perfectly safe. I wonder if they're day went great or if they just got fired and now are about to end their life ( and whomever else's) behind the wheel of they're car. Are they focused while driving or should I be concerned that they're texting someone or changing the song on they're iPod? Often times, this irrational fear I have causes me to pick one lane and stay in it, despite any other relevant factors. Today, for example, I was behind this huge truck that was moving at a snail's pace and probably would've stayed there had I not looked in my mirror and noticed that the lane to my left was completely clear!
     It was at that moment I heard the Spirit saying that it was time to change lanes. How many of us find ourselves cruising comfortably in the slow lane because irrational fears of being blindsided prevent us from changing lanes and moving forward? What "18-wheeler" of fear, doubt, depression, anxiety, addiction, low self esteem, or inexperience are we allowing to slow us down, either in the natural or in the spiritual? II Timothy 1:7 in the Amplified Bible says that "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." What this means for me is that we now have the choice of accepting these gifts and using them to our advantage. What dreams, goals, projects, or ideas had God put on the inside of you that you have yet to start? Whatever it is, you have to know that once you put your hand to it, it's going to prosper because God does not start things that He does not intend to get glory from. Confirmation of this can be found in Jeremiah 29:11, which says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" The time to change lanes and cruise into that future is now!
     Trust me,  as I sit here at Starbucks in Barnes&Noble, I realize that what I'm writing is much easier said than done but I can also tell you that, this afternoon, when I finally did change lanes and get from behind that truck, not only did I feel liberated but I was kicking myself for wasting all that time driving behind it in the first place. How much further down the road would I be had I just made the move sooner? I hit the gas and never looked back.