Crud on the windshield

Yesterday I drove my parents silver eagle bus from the church back to Palatka. The reason it was at the church was because on their way home this past Wednesday the bus blew a head gasket. It was blowing oil out the exhaust. (For those who don't know, this is not a good thing.) Melissa patiently followed my as a drove. She was driving our honda accord. She was following me very closely. An amazing thing happened. Motor oil got all over the front of the car, including the windshield. This made it somewhat difficult to see through, but it was still possible to see. But it was not a clear view.

I woke up this morning to the falling rain over the state of Florida. Good thing for Florida, we need rain badly. Bad thing for me, the windshield was still messed up. As I drove, with Morgan in the car, in the rain the messed up windshield made it almost impossible to see at all. This was very dangerous; I had precios cargo with me. It was hard to see. It was raining. I drove anyway. I tried to clean the windshield before I left, but what I did didn't work very well. As a matter of fact, I think it made things somewhat worse.

As I sit here in my office on this beautifully rainy afternoon, God spoke to my heart as I thought back on my experience this morning. The bible says that vision is critical. IF we are to get where God wants us in the timing God has set for us, we must be able to see clearly. There are a lot of moments in my life when I am "driving with oil on the windshield." I can make things out; I can still see the lines in the road. But I CANNOT see clearly. Things are distorted; things are out of focus; things are unclear. These circumstances are very dangerous for me and for those traveling with me.

But what are the things that put "oil on my windshield?" That's a great question, and specifically for each of us it may have different answers, but generally speaking, sin in the life of Christians puts "oil on the windshield." Those things, circumstances, attitudes, relationships, etc... put "oil on the windshield." Sin makes it difficult for us to see clearly. With "oil on the windshield" things that would have looked horrible or dangerous or deadly don't look so bad. Remember "oil on the windshield" doesn't mean you can't see at all, it just means you can't see clearly everything you need to see in order to get where you want to go. We all know where we want to go. But can we get there safely and on time "seeing things" the way we see them right now?

I had to get the oil off the windshield; this was important. I went to see my good friends at Abner's Pro Shop. They do all the work on my vehicles. I went there and at first tried to remedy the problem myself. I did an OK job, but it wasn't good enough. Abner saw me and patiently waited for me to get done doing what I was going to do, then he stepped in. He is a professional; he knows about these things. He went to work on my behalf, and when he was finished working I could see clearly. (Can you see where this is headed?)

So many times in life we try to clean our own "windshields" with our own knowledge and understanding, but it just doesn't seem to work. If we will take the time to go to the "Master Mechanic" things can be fixed correctly. Our goal and the goal of the Master is that we see clearly. Only the Master can make that possible.

Don't drive with "crud on the windshield."

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike