An Act of Faith?

Here I am, 11:05 pm, heading southbound on I-15 at 71 mph.  I sit a willing prisoner in the passenger seat, compliant in my own potential demise.  What was I thinking?  What lapse in judgment must have occured when I said “yes” to my son’s request to let him drive us to Salt Lake?

If NASA’s looking for a cheaper way to train astronauts, have I got a deal for them.  Between the flopsway against the painted lane lines and intermittent bursts and declines in speed, we could at least give NASA  a run for their money..

And, as an added bonus, we’ll play music comprised of techno-reggae and indie grung from today’s finest artists.   All played at a volume that renders any version of communication useless or introspection impossible.

Indeed, the universe DOES find balance.  Years ago, my own dear ol’ dad was in a similar position–but worse.  Growing up in Idaho at the time I was driving, the legal age for a daytime permit was 14 years.  Even with the seat scootched all the way forward, at 5’2″ and 105 lbs, reaching the gas and brake pedals was a true stretch.  Excitement, inexperience, and a deficit in  logical reasoning left me completely clueless to the catastrophic possibilities lurking everywhere.  My parents and their insurance company were not anywhere near as clueless.  The faith required of my parents to let me drive staggers the soul!

We are now passing the rest of the moving traffic at 82 mph.  Speed limit?  70 mph.  Do I say anything?

So, the Circle of Life makes yet another revolution.  Heavenly Father is an extremely effective and economic teacher.  With Him, no experience is ever wasted.  Therefore, there simply must be something eternally valuable to learn here.

One cardinal characteristic of supreme eternal importance is faith.  Faith is a resource carrying a premium market price in every corner of the universe.  Those able to cultivate great faith and know how to use it wield a true, godly power. As an example, think of uranium.  Naturally occurring, it is quite scarce in the universe.  Simply knowing what it is does no real good.  Knowing where and how to find it is better, but not by much.  Knowing and having the means to harvest, collect and then make it usable to produce power is where we find value.  So it is with faith.  Defining it is one thing, knowing how to put it to work is quite another.

Just missed our exit.  Pointing the error out caused an interesting and gratefully brief reaction in our driver.  And in all actuality, it probably caused an interesting and hopefully brief reaction in the underwear of the guy driving just behind us!

I wonder…there are many reasons I agreed to let my son drive.  Ultimately, like me, he needs experience to define his skills.  The more time logged in driving, the better said skills will be.  Someday, a family of his own will depend upon his dexterity to get them through snow storms and avoid unexpected road hazard.  His children will travel in a state of secure innocence, never connecting dad’s countless driving hours to their confidence in a safe arrival at their destination.

Perhaps our Heavenly Father is doing the same for His children in mortality.  Life here on earth gives plenty of opportunity for us to crash and really foul things up.  It isn’t hard to imagine many times where the Lord may have wanted to just have me “pull over” and let HIM drive.  But instead, His faith gives Him the power to restrain Himself and let me (hopefully) learn.

We’re here and WE’RE ALIVE!  My son is all smiles, and seems to be walking just a bit taller…more confident, perhaps.