I love driving curved highways - for the CHALLENGE and the REMINDER!

I love driving on curved highways and interstates! You know how the highways curve and the exits twirl around to merge into another highway? I always challenge myself to navigate those curves as smoothly as I can get it. Whether I am going only 20 mph or 75 mph, as soon as I see one of the challenging curves ahead, I sit up and really concentrate on driving. (That doesn't mean I'm not concentrating on driving at any other time, although you just never know what can be done while driving! :))

I've learned that if you keep your eyes on the road in general, you can't effectively get a smooth curve. The vehicle I'm driving is completing the curve, but in jerky, bulky increments that make riding along that curve not the most pleasant experience. But if I keep my eye on the little white line that curves on the right side of the road, I can navigate that curve smoothly and efficiently no matter what speed I am at. I can't let my eyes drift to the center of the road or to oncoming traffic as it's so tempting to do, but must keep my focus on the white line.

As we were coming home from Alabama last week, I drove for several hours and encountered some of those curved highways. As soon as I could see that next curve coming up, I held onto the steering wheel with both hands and focused my eyes on that white line, never letting my eye drift away until I was again driving in a straight line.

Sometimes the road of my Christian life is full of those curves, more at certain times than others. Those curves God allows in my life seem to go on forever and it seems as though that straight lane in the highway will never come. Those curves seem to come when I'm at my worst, feeling stressed, overwhelmed, have too much planned in my schedule and am so wrapped up in crossing off my list of things to do that I allow myself to just focus on the road, the huge amount of traffic coming my way.

My focus in life shifts to the temporal, the seemingly important things in life that the world throws at me, but really are unessential in my Christian walk. As Pastor Kirk said in church yesterday, "The world gets you caught up in so many things that are just hay and stubble. They hold no eternal value. Matthew 6:19-20"

There are days (seemingly just about everyday the past month!) when my eyes are only on the road. Just on what I can get accomplished today. My challenge is to see how many things can I cram into 16 hours. And when I don't meet those expectations for myself, I grow frustrated and feel like I'm running behind and always trying to catch back up. I'm looking just at the road, at the long line of traffic ahead. My mind is dwelling on the seemingly important things that can't wait to be done - the things in life that in God's eyes are just temporal. Nonessential. Not worth keeping my mind on 24/7.

I'm not keeping my focus on where it should be - the little narrow white line. When my relationship with the Lord is where is should be, my eyes focused on Christ, studying daily in His Word, navigating those curves makes for a much less bumpy road than when I'm trying to do it all myself. When things get busy, I tend to spend less time on the more important spiritual things and more time on those temporal things that pop up everyday.

And there are days that those curved roads are not a very smooth ride. I am so consumed with the things I "have to" that I lose track of the more important things God has given me to do. Often those challenging moments God brings into my life are to make me sit up, concentrate, take notice of what I'm doing and what I need to keep my focus on.

Many times I will go to bed Sunday night after a long week working, thinking to to myself that this week will be different. That this week I won't stay up so late working. That this week I'll confine my work day to only 8-10 hours instead of 12. But if I try to do that in and of myself, nothing changes. Only through the help of Jesus Christ can I keep those nonessential things under control and navigate a smooth, unbroken curved highway.

You know how when you put the things God would have you to do at the top at the list instead of the bottom, how God puts everything into place? Sure, not everything is a easy, smooth ride, but those lists that seemed so long just seem get done. When my priorities are right before God, those curved roads are a much more pleasant journey through life than attempting it on my own.

I need that white line on the side of the road to navigate that curve, just like my mind needs to be centered on Jesus Christ through the journey of life to take out the bumps and wobbles. Trust me; it makes for a much smoother ride!

Every time I maneuver through a curved highway, I love the challenge of it in driving as well as the reminder where my life focus should be! Colossians 3:2, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."