Posts Tagged: driving with the brake on

“Concerning Driving with the Brake On”

On January 1, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

The other morning was very cold, and some of the side streets were pretty icy.  So, it was a bad day to have car trouble.  But I did have trouble very briefly.  I thought things were going to be serious, but fortunately they weren’t.

When I was leaving my 12-step meeting, I pulled out on the street, even though there was a car coming.  However, the car was going slowly and was pretty far away, so I figured I had plenty of time.  Silly me!

Suddenly, the engine was running very sluggishly, so I pushed harder on the accelerator.  The engine pulled down even more.  I took the car out of gear, thinking that I had it in a higher gear.  I made sure it was in drive, and stepped on the pedal.

Nothing!  It slowed down even more.  The other car (you remember: the one that had been going slowly and was quite a ways away?) was a lot closer now, and seemed to be picking up speed.

And finally, just in time, I figured out what the problem was: It was cold and I was cold and I was so bundled up I could hardly feel anything.  This meant that I was unwittingly stepping on the brake, not the accelerator.

This is, in some measure, the story of my life: driving with my foot on the brake.  And the brake is also called “fear.”  I have lived too much of life in a fear-based manner.  As with my near wreck, driving with the brake on is not necessarily a safe thing to do.

Now, don’t misunderstand: Fear can be a good thing.  It all depends on what or who I’m afraid of, and how I respond to that fear.  Fearing to do evil is a good thing.  Fearing to take stupid, unnecessary risks is another good form of fear.  Fearing God (in the sense of reverencing God and obeying God) is good.

Fearing anything else is like driving with the brake on.  It is not simply that most fear does not help.  Most fear is positively dangerous!

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