Tires and Faith

                I'm only a few logged driving hours away from being able to get my license. I had a feeling this was coming, but the other day my Dad said, "Hey, Sarah! Go get some shoes on and come change the tire."

                Okay. That's cool. I could do this. Not afraid of a little grease. So my Daddy walked me through changing the tire, and my brother stayed near, very intrigued. I took it out: loosed the lug nuts, jacked it up, took off the (perfectly good) tire, and put the spare on. Sort of... my dad did that part to show me how to use my legs to lift it up. Anyway, I put the lug nuts back on and lowered the jack. We checked the pressure and added air. Then, it was time to do the whole thing in reverse. This time, I tried to lift and heave, use my legs, and line up the real tire. That was interesting. And not easy. After watching me struggle a bit, my dad once more got down and put it on. I finished up. Not too bad. Easier than I thought.

                Now you may be thinking, okay, great. So a blogger chick changed a tire. But as I was thinking about it later, I realized, the process is rather similar to some parts of our walk of faith. Now don't take me to literally on all of this, but here are some of the parallels that came to mind.

                When the ride gets bumpy, pull over and take a step back. Look at life from outside of the situation, or the car, as it may be, get out of the driver's seat and examine.

                When something goes wrong, when we "get a flat in our faith" we need to stop and take a look at what's causing the problem. Look closely.       

                When you find the problem, work on patching it up, taking a step towards fixing it. Sometimes all that means is filling up your life with Scripture, it'll keep you going. When the pressure behind your passion get's low, pull out your tools, the Bible, and dig into Scripture and be fulfilled. Other times, it takes a little more time and effort, like changing the flat. Removing the habit, thought pattern, temptation, person, idol, etc, that's keeping you from where you want and need to go on your faith journey.

                The thing is, it's not easy. It's never easy to break away from what's comfortable. But sometimes, what's comfortable is holding us back. It takes work to go through the steps of correction before being able to move on. It can feel as though you're going nowhere, but actually, each step you take in removal and exchange of habits, is taking you farther on your journey. Even when you feel at a standstill, you're growing.

                As you grow, as you take those steps, don't forget, sometimes you'll have others watching you, as my brother was. So be careful how you handle things. Try to do so with grace and patience. You never know who might be watching you. There are always opportunities to influence others, even when you're not aware of it.   

                All of these steps take time. Change rarely comes about quickly; especially when the human heart is involved. It's okay. Take your time, be thorough. Examine yourself and your situation, and work through each step to get back on track.

                Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Dive in, take control of the situation. Clean out your heart and life. Get rid of what's keeping you from moving forward.

                Changing your heart takes work, it sometimes deals with some heavy subjects. Making the change involves help sometimes. Don't be afraid to reach out to others for guidance. Sometimes they can offer guidance and help you get through the process.   

                As you go through the process, a point will come when you're tired of kneeling, and feeling like you're in the same spot. You'll pray, and it will take time to get the answers and make the changes.

                The beautiful thing is, when you're finished, when you've made the changes, you've learned. You have experience under your belt. You will have used your tools of Scripture and tucked the knowledge beneath your belt of truth, and you will be better prepared for the next leg of the journey.