Dead Weight
We often wonder why our lives are not ‘going anywhere’. And, usually, it is because you are ‘pointed’ in the wrong direction… and, since you are NOT moving, it is SO much tougher for the Lord to redirect you… because twisting that ‘wheel of your life’ is causing SO much strain, and stress, and twisting on the ‘tires of your life’…
I was about 12 years old (circa 1969) and my Father was letting me drive his 1954 truck. We lived in a country ranch-type house on 100 acres of land, about 30 miles Northwest of Austin, TX and my father would let me drive whenever we took the hay bales to the ‘back 40’ to feed the cows. Dad was (at the time) a professional mechanic, and was always finding really good cars and trucks to bring home…
Dad was sitting on the passenger side and very well amused at the sight of me wrestling that wheel… and he was chuckling just a bit. Then, he teasingly asked me if I “was having any trouble”?? Yea… Funny Dad!! So… he stopped me… and got my full attention and told me that, if I were to get the truck rolling even just the slightest bit… it would take the dead weight of the truck off of the wheels… and they would turn REALLY easily… not turn as in rolling… turn as in steering… twisting the wheels to the other direction I really want to go.
Not sure if he was attempting to make more fun of me, yet knowing he knew his vehicles, I decided to give it a try… and began to ease the clutch out – feathering the gas just a bit. Sure enough… the steering wheel all of a sudden was VERY easy to turn now… as though the truck had power steering now!! Very curious… curious at best! I didn’t really understand the magic behind this, as a little kid. But, to this day… I still use that method… even with cars that DO have power steering. See… by getting the vehicle moving even the slightest, it eliminates (transfers) that dead-weight friction of trying to twist those tires on the ground or pavement… no longer are they stationary and you are trying to twist them against the ground. By causing them to roll even just a little, you remove that horizontal twist/friction between the bottom of the tire and the ground (pavement) the tire is touching. Sure… the tire is STILL touching, but with the rolling action, the twisting portion is almost completely removed.
As I have grown in the last 40+ years of my life with the Lord, this dead weight exercise of my father’s keeps coming back to me… in so many ways. See… in so many events of my life, I am reminded how… as I am struggling with the Lord for direction… in an effort to turn my life around… to get it pointed where I “know” it needs to be pointed…. He quietly reminds me of this quick, innocent little tip my father shared with me… to at least be MOVING… and the Lord CAN turn you SO much easier… SEE??? No longer, are you ‘dead weight’… no longer stagnant, or completely stopped dead in your tracks… moving… reduced friction… with ease the wheel in our lives is able to steer and to point us in the right direction…
Now… you may be asking yourself “How?” I mean, you may be asking yourself these questions;
What if you begin moving, but the ‘tires of your life’ are pointed in the wrong direction?
Don’t I need to turn them first, and then go in the new direction??
And, I’ll share with you this… At first, yes… you WILL be going in the wrong direction… you are going to… the ‘tires of your life’ are pointed that way!! Make sense?? Once you get moving… just a little now… nothing blasting, or trying to really launch… but, once you at least get moving, then the Lord will help you to turn that wheel SO much easier, and quicker… The key is “Moving”!! See that?
We often wonder why our lives are not ‘going anywhere’. And, usually, it is because you are ‘pointed’ in the wrong direction… and, since you are NOT moving, it is SO much tougher for the Lord to redirect you… because twisting that ‘wheel of your life’ is causing SO much strain, and stress, and twisting on the ‘tires of your life’… Get moving… let that clutch out… put the vehicle in gear, and let your foot off the brake!! Nothing FAST, or not any quick movement… nice and easy at first… to get the dead weight off your life… therein allowing the Lord to turn you much easier. Soon, you WILL see the direction changing, and see the affects of the movement… and you WILL be pointed on the way the Lord wants you to go… being directed by His gentle hand… led by His faithful spirit!!
But, you need to eliminate the dead weight!!