It’s exciting!
And a little scary.
When your child is learning to drive and going to get a driver’s license.
Can you put your child on the road in a bunch of metal, wires, and tires and let them go at speeds that fly by?
When I started learning to drive, my dad helped me. We had a black, four door Rambler. Remember those?
It had a quirk
It was straight shift and the gears somehow liked to lock up; you had to open the hood and (for me) balance on the side of the car, reach in and untangle them.
The car was parked in the drive way.
Daddy wanted me to back out and then we would try driving down the road.
OK.
Well, I was in the driver’s seat. He was in the passenger seat. I checked everything, rear view mirrors, gear in reverse, and no cars coming down the road.
I let off the brake, applied the gas, and flew down the drive way, across the road, bumped into the little ditch, and ran into the little trees and bushes along the side of the road.
The car didn’t handle like a bike or a horse!
Daddy was a bit shaken.
Car was fine.
Lessons were postponed for a little while.
Mama took over. I got it - my driver’s license.
And a little robin egg blue Ford Falcon, straight shift, no air-conditioning, but it had a radio. High tech, LOL.
Hard, very hard, to compare it to the computer assisted driving machines of today.
Driving a vehicle is costly; it comes with a great deal of responsibility to other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and yourself.
How do we expect a new driver to be safe?
The same way we expect our children to ever be safe. We teach them the best we can. We equip them the best we can. We mentor them, and let them practice safely. We let them start in small steps.
And...we pray and trust God to keep them safe. We pray!
Sometimes it’s easier to trust God to keep them saved and destined to heaven than to trust Him to keep them safe on a road trip speeding down the interstate.
Isaiah 40:11 says: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”
Teach, practice, correct and prepare them. Then pray and trust God—He loves them even more than you do. He died to save them.
See Him gather your child in His arms and carry him or her close to His heart.
That’s a great place to be!
