One Foot on the Brake

Christol is the most scaredy-cat driver I know. She chooses to say that she is “cautious.” Trust me, she is a scaredy-cat. She doesn’t drive in the rain, panics when she drives long distances and absolutely freaks if she has to drive over water.

So, imagine my shock when she tried to kill me a couple of weeks ago! I promise; this is the honest to goodness truth. She will try to deny this but, I couldn’t make this up if I tried. My car was in the shop and she offered to be my chauffer. We had run an errand and were on the way back to the office. Unexpectedly, there was the loud blaring of a train whistle. Before I could even locate the train on the tracks, Christol was asking; “Do you think I can make it?”

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve taken the chance and crossed the tracks after hearing the train whistle. So, it wasn’t that I opposed her thinking about it. My indignation is that when I finally located the train, it was on MY side of the car and was less than 500 feet away! And, to make matters worse, she had her foot on the brake as she was asking the question!

In order to keep to the truth, I admit that I didn’t handle her action, or should I say inaction, very well. I know that there was at least one expletive that was uttered because the second thing out of my mouth after a shouted and basically hysterical “NO!” was “Oh the heck NO! This coming from the person who was just griping about having to have her bumper replaced but was willing to have the whole right side of her car smashed in? I don’t think so!” (Ok, maybe, but just maybe, I didn’t say “heck.”)

The Bible is full of people, Biblical role models, who took risks; Abraham, Rahab, Ester, the disciples, just to name a few. What did all of those risk takers have in common? Faith. They answered God’s call and willingly stepped into the role that they were called to assume. They knew without question that if God was in the equation, they could do what it was that had to be done. There are risks that have to been taken. I love what Usuguk, a character in Lincoln Child’s book, Terminal Freeze, says about risk taking; “If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.”

Christol was seriously considering trying to beat the train while she had her foot on the brake! There is a moral in this; you can’t move forward if your foot is on the brake. There are times in our personal, professional and spiritual lives that we have to let go and go for it. We have to be willing to move forward without hesitation and to “Choose with no regret” (Mary Anne Radmacher), knowing that if God is part of the equation, we can do what it is that has to be done.

Judith Bell

Copyright © Judith Bell 2010