What My Daughter Learned About Brake Pedals

I love adrenaline sports as much as the next guy, but little did I know teaching my children how to drive would offer the ultimate adrenaline rush!
 
Seeing my daughter’s look of sheer delight, I just knew this first lesson was going to be fun.  I had no doubt she was eager to be in the driver’s seat, but then again maybe she was a little too eager.  Her casual attitude suggested she didn’t fully understand the responsibility she was about to assume.  I responded to this mindset by overstating some of the more obvious aspects of piloting a vehicle: putting on one’s safety belt, adjusting the mirrors and seat, identifying the switches for headlights and windshield wipers…important stuff.  I did, however, overlook mentioning one detail that I assumed would be obvious—the difference between the brake pedal and the accelerator. 

With seatbelts clicked and the motor running, we sat at the entry to our 100-yard driveway, pointing toward the highway like a fighter jet idling on an aircraft carrier flight deck. 

“Okay, Sweetie,” I said calmly, “Apply a little pressure to the accelerator.” 

While looking down at the floorboard to locate the pedals, she assaulted the first pedal her foot touched, and we took off with tires spitting gravel.  The sudden acceleration pinned me to my seat, and trees began to fly past my window in a blur of green as we careened down the lane. 

“The brake! The brake!” I shouted.  “Press the brake!” 

“Which one’s the brake?” 

“The one you’re NOT pressing!” I screamed.

Being quick to obey, she pressed the other pedal…hard, really hard.  We skidded sideways to halt in a billow of dust and swirling leaves. 

I sat clutching the passenger door handle with white knuckles and looking straight ahead as I tried to catch my breath and allow my adrenaline to drop before I spoke.  I slowly turned my head to face my daughter and found her gripping the wheel and looking at me with a wide, sheepish grin on her face. “Oops!” she whispered.

Fast forward to the day my teenage son asked if I would teach him to drive the car.  It should be no surprise that I was less than enthusiastic, but it had to be done.  He had been using the riding mower and driving a tractor, so his first lesson was different…mostly.  We easily traveled our driveway without his struggling to find the brake or even speeding toward an oncoming tree.  He had heard me razz my daughter about her driving enough times that when it was his turn he was going to be the world’s best at basically not doing anything the way she had.  As we slowly turned out of the drive and onto the paved highway, he steered into the right-hand lane…so far so good.  But then as I urged him to accelerate, keeping the vehicle between the lines became a challenge.  He could travel a straight course fine if he kept his eyes on the road, but the second his attention was diverted to a side or rearview mirror or a gauge on the dashboard, he would drift from the lane.  I told him to hold his speed steady focus on making slight steering corrections.  Gradually, he adjusted his control, got a feel for the road and settled in to develop the skills of a good driver.   As I compared the two driving lessons, it dawned on me that becoming a good driver is a lot like living our lives in Christ. 

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You speed steadily down a narrow way in your vehicle and like that first encounter with Christ life can feel fast and exciting and you almost feel as though you could reach a whole continent of heathens with the gospel.  This spiritual momentum is breathtaking, and has a potential to do much good, but can also result in harm.  Like driving, other motorists are depending on you to manage the journey with responsibility, and every new driver knows this takes discipline.  Every driver and every believer needs disciple but few of us welcome it.  In order to keep ourselves in the appropriate lane, we must accept and employ it.  The writer of Hebrews gives us a practical example of discipline and how we should receive it in chapter 12:5, “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.’”

New drivers must focus intensely to keep the car on the road.  Their strict attention to the task prevents harm to themselves or to others. My son experienced such discipline as he learned to use small corrective moves to keep his vehicle centered in his lane.  My daughter discovered the value of brakes.  Discipline is like that, making adjustments to our life in rhythm with the Holy Spirit’s direction.  Usually it’s a small correction, and once in a while we hit the brakes. 

One cannot set the car’s autopilot and expect to make it to the destination.  Likewise, a successful life’s journey requires continuing involvement, and not just our own, but the involvement of the Father.  We must allow him to correct us, or we will risk a wreck.  I love how Hebrews 12:11 explains this, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  That is so true; most discipline feels difficult and arduous, too intensive and unattainable.  However, with small corrections, we can stay on course toward a greater purpose—a yield of peaceful fruit of righteousness.  I want that outcome! 

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So often, our rigid habits of discipline become a burden merely to keep up the appearance of holiness.  In essence, the practice becomes the purpose, but discipline is a means to living the good life in Jesus.  I love the perspective 2 Peter 3:13-14 gives: “But in keeping with this promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.  So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.”  Righteousness and peace—the result not of a life lived with cumbersome rules, but the reward for accepting our loving Father’s consistent course corrections.   

​By the way, my children have successfully learned to drive, even my daughter.  They are continually growing in competence and skill as they apply a few consistent disciplines.  I’ve even noticed that when I’m in the passenger seat, I can enjoy a sense of peace when they drive…most of the time. ​

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