I learned the truth at 17, that driving licenses were handed out quite
freely, and ability may not have anything to do with obtaining one. Our high
school had discontinued driver’s ed. when I was a sophomore, and turning the
legal age of 17 my junior year, I was more than ready to drive. A few of us had
driven other’s cars illegally, and had a basic understanding of the relationship
between gas pedal and speed, and brakes and stopping. A little wide on turns,
radio too loud, maybe a warning we were approaching, and with only a legal
license to separate us from the legal drivers. But after a painful two weeks of
having one of my parents ride with me while on my permit, the day came, and all
the warnings came back to me waiting my turn in line. We had been warned about
the big fat guy, how he was described, who used to work at the inspection
station, and failed many a car whose headlights were aimed too high after he sat
in it, then too low when retested with a normal sized human being. Now he was a
tester for getting your license. Fortunately it was given during the day. We
had been told hands at 10 and 2, no radio on, and keep hands on the wheel.
Don’t be fooled if offered a stick of gum and removing one. We had been told
about driving too fast, not too slow, and to check mirrors, turn your head when
backing, and how the dreaded parallel parking was the ultimate test, and how
many had succumbed to its curse and not passed. I had passed the written test,
but failed the eye test, and with new glasses on, was ready for battle. And
then the driver’s test inspector hopped in our 1966 Rambler, and the ride of my
life was to begin.
After handing him my paperwork, he asked a few qualifying questions, one
hit me, “how long have you been driving?” A trick question for sure, if I said
never, I lied, and they would find out, if I told the truth I might be failed
because I had driven without a license. That question wasn’t on the test. So I
told him about a year, and he said fine, let’s go. Making it out of the parking
lot, turn signals on, I turned, and proceeded at 34 mph, 1 under the limit. The
tester was making small talk, and asked if I wanted anything. And then motioned
to pull over in front of a store, and again asked “do you want something to
drink?” The spots were clear, no parallel parking needed, and I hadn’t hit the
curb, and I sat quietly, radio off, while he went inside. A few long minutes
later he returned, told me “OK, let’s go back,” and we took off, making a series
of right turns to get back. Pulling into the parking lot, tester with coffee in
one hand , donut still in the other, we parked, he asked if I had any questions,
and then he signed off. I had passed! I was legal! Look out New Jersey, then
the world-here Mikey comes! All the fears, all the trepidation, all the
warnings meant nothing, and this was probably the easiest trip to the store I
would ever make. And the first of 5 states I would eventually obtain a driver’s
license in. The rites of passage to drive had been met head on, and
successfully mastered. The next stop, the office at school to get my parking
permit, but that would have to wait, why mess up a great day of remembrance by
going to school? So off I went driving everywhere I could, stopping to get gas,
“$2 please,” as the attendant gave me gas, looking as if I had done it hundreds
of times before. Lunch at McDonalds, parking as close to the door so everyone
could see me driving, so what if it was a Rambler...and suddenly girls wanted to
go out with me. Must have been the Rambler...and another rite of passage was
ahead. No more dates with my Dad driving, or meeting somewhere, now I got to
pick up my date, and meet her parents. Would the tests of life never end?
You have to ask? Trials and tests, everyday occurrences aren’t they? They
are for me, and come with a built in legacy of failure for some of us. We never
plan to fail, but what if I hadn’t passed my driving test? What if I had been
asked to parallel park and failed? What if I had to scratch my nose and took
one hand off the wheel? Yet these simple trials occur every day, and it seems
someone is always there to hope you do fail. “I told you so,” you can hear them
mocking, and the older you get, they don’t diminish. We are told “in this life
you will have trials and temptations.” If nothing else that should prove
scripture correct. But in the Greek of the New Testament, the word for trial is
the same as for temptations. The same temptations God tells us to not be led
into in the Lord’s Prayer. So what’s up? Maybe it comes down to a sense of
attitude, how we approach things. 65 in 55 zone may be a temptation to one, a
trial to another, maybe even a court date. It is how we handle the situation,
and our attitude in it. As the saying goes “anything with a skirt or wheels
will get you in trouble,” some avoid both and never get into trouble. Yet some
fall head long into both and pay the price. I believe we know in our spirit
when we are being tempted, our spirit bears witness to the truth. It is up to
us to exercise self control in that decision. Meekness, power under control,
when we see an open road, but not the cop behind the bushes. When we see the
pretty tempting girl, but not the trap that lays ahead if we go where we know
not to go. Sin has its price, and its wages are death. So a temptation may be
a test, and a test may turn into a temptation. Only in the spirit will you know
the difference. It takes Jesus, and without him the only sure wage you’ll ever
earn is death. Payable on demand. But the temptations are there, maybe the
driving test was easier when compared to them. But now that you have that
license, you still can get a ticket. Or even lose it.
Thankfully Jesus forgives, and his grace is forever. Mercy shown when you
screw up, the only way to get it, and again the spirit there to guide you.
Today a simple test, the final exam may be before you. Life has taught you to
study, but this one you don’t want to fail. Who is Jesus? If you don’t know
him as Lord and savior, as the son of God, as deity, you fail. And we are even
given a chance to take it open book, the Bible. Now you know the answer to the
test, what will you say? It takes that special relationship for heaven, just
like it took a special test to be a legal driver. No false believers in heaven,
God knows the truth. Your life may have been easy, or it may have been hard,
but the signs of God are always there. No excuses for failure, no retests for
salvation. Once and for all-good in any state, in any country around the
world. And out of this world. Make sure you obtain the license to heaven
today...you never know who may be out to get you. Maybe some guy in an old
Rambler....taking a curve too wide.
Jesus is that license to live, says so right on his license. Organ donor,
he gave his heart and his life so you could live. Tested by being pulled over?
License and registration please? Look to Jesus. A license to live. And your
registraton in heaven. An insurance card, the only insurance card you’ll ever
need for heaven. The final rite of passage....if this had been a test, would
you have passed?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com