Changing Lanes

Years ago Altha and I heard a sermon by Daniel Henderson at Los Gatos Christian Church neither of us has ever forgotten: “Stay in Your Lane.” Daniel meant that each of us should know our ‘calling’ from the Lord and stay there; using the analogy of cars on the freeway, we should stay in our lane. As long as we stay in our lane, we are promised to be fruitful. But when we move into someone else’s lane or into one that God didn’t call us to, we will find ourselves unfruitful and frustrated. Jesus knew His calling: “I do nothing without consulting the Father. I judge as I am told…” (Jn. 5:30 NLT); and “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (Jn. 17:4 NIV). Using our analogy, Jesus knew His lane and stayed in it.

But lately, I seem to be experiencing a lot of “lane changes.” When we were in Guatemala recently, we had planned an overnight trip to El Salvador. But on the morning of that day, our daughter became sick and we had to take her to the hospital. In a moment, the day’s agenda changed. Last Monday, I had planned to do some writing and to pay bills. But at 7 am my mother called and told me my father (who has cancer) was not able to get out of bed. And in a moment, my agenda changed. These are only a few of many "lane changes" I've experienced this last month.

Now of course as any good, experienced driver knows, when you are on the freeway, you must always be aware of what is happening in the lanes to your left and right: you never know when something ahead of you may force you to change lanes suddenly. Similarly, when God suddenly brings about circumstances that cause you to change lanes, you must be immediately ready and obedient. But thankfully, you don’t have to worry about crashing in the lane he sends you too—He has already cleared the way. Your job is to move quickly when he says “change lanes!”