I was driving home from work just now, and I was listening to the radio. (Old fashioned, I get it, most people plug in whatever electronic device they can to avoid commercials.) Anyway, we live in a small town, and as such, the "seek" button really just bounces around between like 5 stations. As it was "searching" for that perfect song for me to sing along with, I pulled into our parking lot, and parked. Just as I was turning the car off, one line came out of those speakers.
"Lord, I'm ready now."
The engine stopped, the words stuck, and I happened to look at the steering wheel.
The words "coast set" for the cruise control on the car then etched themselves into my mind just as the song had.
I didn't turn the car back on to actually hear the song, but I did just sit in the cold for a moment. I started thinking about that "coast set" button, and the single line from whatever song happened to be on the radio echoed in my mind over, and over, and over again.
"Lord, I'm ready now."
Coast set.
I started thinking about life, and how often I talk to God in my own way. I don't always pray, nor do I really emphasize any religious aspect of my life. I just live, and in living, I talk to God. I think about Him, I think about the natural order, or logical rightness, of things. Sometimes things make sense, and other times they don't. Sometimes I accept what I cannot change, and other times I bull forward until what I feel is right finds its place in my heart.
Coast set.
Then there are those moments that I forget I am even driving. I get into a lane, stop focusing on everything around me, and set my cruise. I forget about it all, and what really needs focus is suddenly front and center. "Lord I'm ready now." Coast set.
Now I can't say that everyone sees strange or personal signs in everything they do in life. Some people say we find what we search for. Some people search for deeper meaning in their life in many different ways. I don't believe any one way is right, and another wrong. In my mind, as long as you are simply searching for greater purpose, and in turn a greater self awareness in your life, then you are doing everything right. My life happens to incorporate God. Everywhere. In everything.
But my statement to God is usually more phrased as a question. Lord, am I ready now? Am I focusing too much on my speed, or my destination, or even (and maybe especially) the people around me? Do I give in to road rage, and anger more often than I should in my hurry to rush through the day to day, thus forgetting the time I have to coast along? Not coast in a lazy, idle, sense, but coast in the sense of ease as I move through whatever challenges, or blessings, life happens to give me.
Do I trust enough?
Do I give enough?
Am I enough?
The song, and my steering wheel button, were both a small but gentle reminder from my everywhere God. Life can be messy, and that's okay. His advice should be sought, and that's okay. He wants me near, He wants you near. But He also wants us to move. He wants us to go.
He wants us to stop asking, sometimes.
Lord, am I ready? Don't just ask, do. Move. Go.
Declare it with confidence, and zeal, then grab onto your life and cruise.
I'm ready now.
Coast set.
