“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.”
– Proverbs 3:5-6

You learn a great deal about trust as a Driver Education teacher! There is something about sitting on the passenger side with a student driver behind the wheel that can test the courage of men and women with nerves of steel. There are some questions that are always on the mind of the instructor. Does the student driver see what I see? Will the student react in time to an unexpected situation? Does the student driver understand my instructions? I can vividly recall the time I told my student driver to turn left at the upcoming stop sign. Sounds simple. As the young driver repeated my request, he said, “Turn left?” When I replied, “Right”, guess which way he turned? It’s pretty obvious why there are TWO sets of brakes in driver education cars. Sometimes those learning to drive are consumed with being in control rather than following the teacher’s instructions. “I know what I’m doing”, were words I didn’t want to hear.

Too often in my own life I want to drive the car rather than giving God the steering wheel. How many times do I convince myself that I know what I’m doing? Yet when I drive my life off the road into the ditch, who do I call on first? Why is it so difficult to understand that God sees what I don’t see? Why do I fail to listen to His instructions time and time again? Why do I make life more difficult than it needs to be? God knows what is best for us. He wants us to make a complete commitment to Him–our spirit, our soul and our body. We must trust Him for the direction of our lives. There can’t be two steering wheels. We must recognize that we neither know what is best for us nor are we capable of driving the car ourselves. There is peace in turning the steering wheel over to God.  Josh Manson, member of the Stanley Cup winning Colorado Avalanche, said it well, “I’m putting everything on You. I’m trusting everything to You. I’m going do everything I can to be the best image of God that I can be.”

Heavenly Father, I want You to take the steering wheel of my life. You know where You want me to go and You know the best way to get there. Teach me today to trust You completely. Amen.