Drive Time

Autumn of 2004: my one year of life spent as a full-fledged commuter, with an hour's drive each way to and from work.  One school year was all I spent driving like that, but it was enough to give me plenty of "driving analogies" for my prayer life.  Here is analogy number two:

Sept. 16
Using the Cruise Control and the Power of the Holy Spirit
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself..."  Matt 16:24.
Denying self equates to allowing someone or something else to take control of what drives you.  But if an "autopilot" basically does whatever we would do anyway, have we really denied ourselves?  And, if we only give up partial control--as in give up governing speed but not direction, like with cruise control--have we really denied ourselves?  Jesus wishes us to be one with Him even as He is one with the Father, but I think we often approach that goal as if it were like cruise control.  Give up some, but not all, power along the journey. 

Now I can look back and add to this analogy.  If we DO achieve total abandonment to God, like having a cruise control and a GPS that in tandem can completely take our cars wherever ywe need to go--hands free/feet free driving--then the next challenge is believing  tha tother cars around us are being "directed" by the same benevolent satellite that moves us along.  Could we believe in that Oneness of control should some other car cut us off in traffic?  What if a car wears a bumper sticker that says it has that futuristic On Star control we're imagining, but it is really being driven by a lying, maniacal fiend, his hands firmly on the wheel and road rage in his heart? (grin)
Would we, in a reflex move, grab at the wheel at such a moment?   
How would we feel about his having the "right" to share the road with us?