Lessons from a Car 1

Lesson 1: Learning to Drive

Growing up in a small town in Newfoundland I was more than a little envious at some of my classmates whose families were rich enough to buy them cars. My last year of high school was 1964-65, the same year that the Ford Mustang was released. And one of my classmates drove one to school. I did not have a driver’s licence but I was permitted to drive my father’s 1954 GMC pick-up truck, mostly when he was aboard. Sometimes I took it and drove around the back roads with my best friend, never thinking about insurance or the consequences of getting stopped by the police. I remember crashing through only one fence. My father said I could get my licence when I could afford to buy my own vehicle, which took another five years.

Starting out on the Christian life is much like learning to drive. It is exciting. It is thrilling. It is new. For a person who has never been saved to suddenly come to know the Lord as their Saviour and Friend, the experience is like being born again. A whole new world opens up to them. Like a new driver, they have freedom they never knew before. They are free from the old lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, and immorality. They are free to forgive others. They have the power to let go of old resentments and old habits. The have a licence to love.

John 1:12

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: