Which way are you headed?

In my years I have witnessed two interesting exceptions to the normal American protocol about personal space. The first is pregnant women; People think nothing about touching a pregnant woman’s “belly” while an uninvited touch of that type is never acceptable for her non-pregnant counterpart. The second has to do (you guessed it) with motorcycles. If you are in a car Gas Stations are like elevators you are aware of other people but you rarely if ever speak to them. It is different on a motorcycle, for some reason people in cars who do not speak to each other are overcome with curiosity and will freely speak to motorcycle riders. Conversation starters include: “I used to ride a…” or “Great weather for a ride” or “Looks like you’re going to get wet” but invariably the short conversation comes around to “Which way are you headed?” Last Sunday the answer to that question was simple, north towards Fairplay but as considered the trip we took something about that question got me thinking about life and my relationship with God.

In my life I am privileged to have fought alongside men to win the battle against addiction and to live free. In the simplest terms any addiction is the result of trying to fill our God hunger with something of this earth that we can control. The Problem with God is that He won’t be controlled and we hate feeling out of control. The irony is that the end result of all addictions is a life out of control. When the consequence of addiction becomes great enough we will seek help and admit our powerlessness. Then comes the heard work of learning a new way to live.

We find ourselves between God, who loves us and is seeking to rescue us and the “dragon” of our addiction, instinctively, (remember these are the same instants that got us in trouble in the first place) we take up a defensive posture never letting the dragon out of our sight. It is a crafty foe and we mustn’t let it get an advantage. Like a basketball player with knees bent and hands out we block the dragon’s path to the goal of ensnaring us again. All the time our back is to God as we face the dragon. If we are truly powerless over the dragon who are we to prevent the dragon from doing anything. Instead we must do the most counterintuitive thing in the world and turn our back on the dragon and look at God instead. Every nerve is on high alert as we are sure that leaving the dragon unattended will be our doom but all the time God seems undisturbed by the situation or our plight. Doesn’t He even care? Why hasn’t He done something?

We in our panic don’t realize we are at the very crossroads of faith. Will we place our faith in ourselves and turn to face the dragon? Or will we keep our eyes on God even if His behavior is not what we expected?

Most of you don’t have anything that would be considered an addiction but the same question applies. When situations come into your life do you naturally find yourself facing God or is your faith placed squarely on your bag of talent and “special” skills?

Which way are you headed?