Snow, Blind Spots, Parking and God

Snow, Blind Spots, Parking and God
Thursday, February 18, 2016

Our very own K.J. Swiger from our worship team writes . . .

I consider myself decent at parallel parking. I can typically get my Jeep into a spot on the first try. However today it took me like 7 tries because the lower part of my passenger mirror had snow on it blocking the pile of frozen snow that I kept running into (similar to how my driver's window looks in this picture). At first I was just laughing it off thinking it's a good thing no one was out here to see me totally fail at parking. But then I had a "Jesus" moment.

I thought to myself "Huh. . . This is exactly how our lives are." We get so comfortable with life (aka parallel parking) that we don't realize how one little stumbling block (aka little patch of snow on the mirror) can throw us off track and cause us to get stuck in the overwhelming cycle of negativity, bitterness, anger, etc. (trying over and over again to get around that pile of frozen snow even though I know that I have to get out and clear the snow off of the mirror). It wasn't until I wiped off the mirror that I was able to see the full image and park successfully.

The same goes with our spiritual lives. If we're not careful and intentionally working to keep Christ first in our lives, our thoughts can slowly start to get clouded and eventually we will get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing over and over again, only to get disappointed, forcing us to search for other things to help get us out. In reality all we need to do is get refocused so we can see the whole picture and put our thoughts back on Christ. My knowledge or skill of parallel parking didn't matter in that moment. What mattered was the thing blocking my view so I couldn't see where I was going. It doesn't matter how long we've been a Christian, or how close to God we are . . .  Every one of us are all capable of becoming distracted. I know I've been guilty of this, and I will likely become guilty of doing this in the future. But as long as I continue to refocus myself on Christ, I know I'll be okay.

Be encouraged, and stay warm!!