When I was around 14 and didn’t have my driver’s license, my grandfather and grandmother were engaged in what I call a “nagging session.” My grandmother was bugging my grandfather about moving his dump truck out of the driveway. The dump truck was usually parked across the street from our house in vacant area. Tired of listenng to her rant about moving the dump truck, my grandfather turned to me and said, “Sugar go move the truck.”
Excited about the opportunity to drive, I jumped up and ran toward the door. As I took off at top speed, I could hear my grandmother telling me not to touch that truck because I didn’t have my driver’s license and I’d never driven a dump truck before. Pretending not to hear her, I kept moving toward the door. My grandfather didn’t care that I had no driving experience; he said this would be a good time for me to learn.
Finally, I made it to the truck opened the door and climbed inside. I looked like a tiny doll sitting in that huge truck, but I didn’t care, I felt powerful and in charge; I had faith that I could complete the task successfully. Trying to figure out how to operate the truck, I started switching gears and flipping switches that I wasn’t supposed to. The truck started to move and fear set in; “what had I gotten myself into. As I started to panic, my grandfather ran out and jumped in the truck and guided me through the process of getting the truck backed out of the driveway. I soon discovered that my short journey to just a few feet away had turned into what seemed like a lifetime.
With much jerking, stalling and discomfort, I finally made it out of the driveway and landed in the middle of the street and stalled. As sweat started to burn my eyes, I could see my grandmother yelling at us from the driveway. Nervous and frustrated because I had traffic backed up and people were honking their horns yelling for me to get out of the road. Suddenly, like peace in the midst of a storm, my grandfather grabbed my hand and said, forget about those people in the street, forget about your grandmother and listen to me, focus on what I’m telling you. Those people can’t do anything but wait; focus only on me and navigating this thing to its destination. Once, I blocked out all the distractions and access noise and focused my attention on my grandfather, my burden became lighter and the journey across the street was easier to navigate.
Like my overzealous attempt to move the dump truck, most of us get so excited to get to our destination quickly, we fail to consider God’s plan. We just hop in and start switching gears, flipping switches and navigating our own course only to end up stalled in the middle of the street. In the beginning of my journey, I had bold faith; I was locked and loaded ready to go. We start out with courageous faith, but when we hit a pothole or an obstacle we doubt ourselves and feel that it’s just to big for us to handle. Although, I had no experience driving something as massive as a dump truck, my grandfather had enough faith in me to trust that I would get to my charted destination safely. When I became overwhelmed he assured me that I could get that truck across the street, if I focused on him and his instruction. Our heavenly father is amazing, He trusts us enough with things that seem so big to us, but nothing is impossible if we keep our attention focused on Him, drown out the distractions of the world and drive our faith through our fears like a dump truck.