All Gas. No Breaks.

Last Friday, I drove my car over to my father’s garage to change the brakes. Four years since purchasing it, I still had my original brakes on. Not too shabby. They were overdue for a change.  The twists and turns of Sussex County roads and the stop-and-go of Route 80 traffic are far more taxing on car brakes then the straight, flat roads of the Midwest.  Upon closer inspection, my pads were much lower than I thought. Not dangerous or deadly, yet… but well on their way. They would have been screeching and squealing in no time.
 
For most people, the fall season really starts to speed up our schedules. Relaxing days of summer are gone. No more lazy days. No more vacations. The lakes and beaches are nearly closed for the summer.  Back to reality. No more sleeping in. Time to set the too-early alarm clock again.  Back to commitments and obligations. We are once again bound to schedules and timelines beyond our control. School starts. Work meetings resume. Business travels are booked. Even our church calendar, as you’ll notice below, ramps up again. Fast paced. Our family calendar is once again quickly filling up with a color-coded array of school commitments, practice and game times, orthodontist appointments, and so much more.
 
I know my family is not alone. Living in northern New Jersey, we are no strangers to the “Go, Go, Go” mindset that is ever so prevalent in the upper northeast. All gas, no brakes. It is an unavoidable demarcation to living in this part of the country. Sadly, most people wear this rat-race mentality as a badge of honor; they see it as a good thing. Something to be proud of, a way to get ahead.  However, like the beaches along the Jersey coastline all of last week, allow me to raise the bright red caution flags!  There is a better way, a more balanced and healthier approach.  It would do us well to slow down and check our spiritual brake pads, or more aptly spiritual break pads.  We ought to make sure we take time to rest, time to be with the Lord, time to worship, time to pray.  Yeah, I get it… “Football practices, doctor appointments, visiting family, blah, blah, blah.”  As enjoyable as these things may be, these are merely excuses and distractions that the devil successfully uses to sidetrack and confuse us.  It takes our eyes off Jesus because we are so obsessed with keeping up with ways and expectations of this world. Before too long, we feel overwhelmed and overburdened.  We are careening down the highway of life, and we can’t stop.  Have to keep up. Have to “go, go, go” and we have no time to slow down. 
 
Listen up my friends… take heed, lest we crash and burn. Pull into our Heavenly Father’s garage. Sit down in His sanctuary. Turn off the proverbial car for an hour.  Let our graciously patient God check the pads, rotors, and everything else that’s going on under your hood.  Give Him a few minutes to work on you a bit. Let Him replace what needs replacing with His comfort and strength.  In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  What a beautiful invitation, and a much need prescription to prevent us from screeching and squealing our way through our chaotic calendars and our tumultuous timelines.
 
Slow down.
​Rest. Brake. Break.
 
Lay off the gas and allow God to recharge you in these weekly (daily) moments when life exhausts you.
 
 “To be fully alive, you need time with God to recharge.” (Craig Groeschel)
 
“He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31)