I have had more than my fair share of speeding tickets. I have actually lost track of the number of tickets I’ve received in my life. I must look like a suspicious individual because I am the guy who gets stopped for going five miles over the speed limit, or for having a ‘burnt out license plate light’. As a result, I have developed a small fear of police cars. As a result, I have also learned to see the speedometer as my ‘friend’, so to speak. Paying more attention to my friend has resulted in fewer tickets. Imagine that.
Driving was going along normally until a few weeks ago, however. I was on a long road trip, and my speedometer was broken. To make matters worse, it was a holiday weekend & police were out in force everywhere. As I was cruising down the interstate enjoying my drive, I looked up and observed a state trooper police vehicle in the other lane. Out of instinct, I looked down at my speedometer to see how fast I was going. It said zero because it was broken. I sensed a bit of panic come over me, so I decided to pray. Here is how I sensed the conversation occur:
ME: I have no idea how fast I am going, Lord. What am I supposed to do ?
DAD: Don’t worry about how fast you’re going.
ME: What? Why not?
DAD: Because I have a better way for you to drive.
ME: Really? How so?
DAD: Pay attention to the flow of traffic. Don’t get ahead of the traffic, and don’t fall behind. Stay in the midst of the traffic, and the police won’t be able to touch you.
So, that’s exactly what I did. At first, I continued to look down at my speedometer to see how I was doing, but each time I was reminded that it was broken. I simply had to ‘trust’ the flow of traffic around me. That’s when the ‘ah ha’ moment occurred:
ME: I get it Lord, you did this on purpose!
DAD: That’s right.
ME: This is just like my journey out of the religious system, isn’t it?
DAD: Yes. In the past, you were focused on the law & rules. Laws & rules were your ‘speedometer’. As long as you didn’t ‘cross the line’, you were fine. But now, I have awakened you to something greater than laws & rules. I have awakened you to life in the Spirit.
ME: Wow. Life in the Spirit is like the traffic flow, isn’t it?
DAD: Yes. I want you to focus on the ‘traffic flow’ of the Spirit within you, and within the lives of your brothers & sisters I have placed you in community with. When you are focused on the indwelling Spirit of Christ within you and your spiritual family, you will be able to do things that you were once not aware of when your focus was only on the ‘speedometer’ of rules and obligations.
ME: Yes, being aware of the ‘traffic flow’ will help me slow down when I need to, or speed up when I need to. Driving within the flow will be much more peaceful and smooth.
DAD: Yes, when you are in the midst of the traffic flow, there will be times that you will need to slow down or speed up. The ‘speedometer’ is unable to show you this. If your focus is simply the ‘speedometer’, then you may hit the traffic in front of you that has come to a halt. A focus on the speedometer could also cause you to block the traffic flow around you when things have sped up. Paying attention to the ‘traffic flow’of my Son ‘IN’ you and your community is vital. The law has no more hold on you when you are flowing within the midst of the traffic. The ‘speedometer’ cannot show you how to drive, but the traffic flow will show you how you should drive.
ME: I get it. In the same way, the law of sin & death can show us what not to do, but it is only the indwelling Spirit of life that can love through us. What the law is powerless to do, the Spirit of life in us can accomplish freely.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22-23, NASB)
For Further Explanation…
For further explanation of the superiority of New Covenant living, consider this exposition from Waylon Jennings:
Farfegnugen,
Jamal Jivanjee
Hey bro – you know that I’ll “flow” with you in this post, on many levels! (Speeding, flow of the spirit, Dukes of Hazard…high octain stuff!)
I LOVE the way you compared the concept of “flowing” in church-life as going with the traffic flow, and how trying to just pay attention to the laws causes one to be out of the flow many times. And how paying attention to and getting in agreement with the flow of the Spirit in our bros & sis is an awesome way to promote peace and lawfullness in the church-life. Really good stuff!
I would add, from a discernment perspective, that it’s important to “flow” with the *Spirit*, and not a *current of flesh or self* that may be coming forth.
So, for example, if a bro or sis is not flowing with the Spirit, and instead is “going to slow” (due to fear, perhaps) or “driving too fast” (due to ego or impatience, maybe); then it would increase the flow of death instead of life to get in the flow with them. Rather, it would be more fruitful and productive for the kingdom to find the flow of the Spirit, and then encourage them to get aligned with it.
Well said brother. Good stuff.
About the song, when this song came to mind, I instantly thought of you and smiled. I’m not a country fan, but I know Waylon Jennings was a part of a group called ‘The Outlaws’. That must be why. You are a true ‘Outlaw’, and I’m thankful:)
Jamal,
I really enjoyed this post and it goes along with a theme I had been thinking about last night and today. Thanks!
-Mike
Sounds like our Lord to me:)
So many of us feel like we don’t have a spiritual speedometer … but we actually have two: Christ in us (the spiritual discernment Trevor mentions above) and the community that surrounds us. If you lose one of those you can have some degree of function, but you will be handicapped if you lost both! That I suppose is a good encouragement to walk in the Spirit and in strong community life with those who do the same!
Thanks for the post … fantastic observation and encouragement!
Wow Stephen, great insight. What you shared is vitally important and essential. Thank you for sharing this!
Beautiful analogy Jamal! The Lord is so wonderful to help us understand spiritual truth using life experiences. Just like Jesus said, when the Teacher comes he will guide you into all truth. What a wonderful teacher the Spirit is!
“ The speedometer is unable”,just like the law is unable to help us. The law is good, is perfect, but it does not help me, that’s the problem. When I look at the law (which is perfect) the only thing I’m left with is the realization, that I can’t keep it. But the Helper can. He aleady fulfilled the law, and has come to live inside of us now, to help us.
I too love the analogy of the traffic flow with the church life flow. This reminds me of the Israelites, moving all together from camp to camp, from place to place, the Lord leading them with the pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When some individuals or group of individuals did not trust the Lord they all suffered, their progress and their movement was arrested, until things were dealt with and they could move on. Just like us, Trevor expressed it very well, by “going to slow” (due to fear, perhaps) or “driving too fast” (due to ego or impatience, maybe). But learning to live by the Spirit and the discipline of the Spirit within, and yielding to the Spirit corporately we move forward in life, when we don’t, we experience death and spiritual arrest.
This word flow, also reminds me of the fact that the Spirit of God is like a mighty River and being found within this mighty river we move as He moves, and together. And this got me singing now.
The River of God sets our feet a –dancing
The River of God fills our hearts with cheer.
The River of God fills our mouths with laughter,
And we rejoice for the River is here.
Marsela,
I always love to hear from you. Thanks for sharing Christ’s wisdom here. This is tremendously helpful.
Jamal,
Christ in you and other brothers and sisters that share here, helps me tremendously as well. As we live Him, may we give Him expression, that we may all be filled with the abundance of His life. I appreciate you brother! Thanks!
Hey There, Jamal
I actually read this post a day or two ago and enjoyed it, but at the moment didn’t find myself with much to say, but tonight a lot of things have come to my mind, mostly due to an interesting experience I had tonight with a friend. Kind of long again, bear with me
I have found that the more I am In Christ, and being led by the Spirit, the less often I have to ask God questions, but rather I continuously get that sort of gentle leading… Those unique but sometimes quiet moments that are almost impossible to explain, but you know you are being spoken to, or led. I have many moments where I look back and say, “There is NO possible way someone as dense and blond as ME, could have come up with THAT! That was Christ!”
An experience I had tonight actually brought this very thing to my remembrance.
I was sitting in a coffee shop with a friend and our daughters, we had taken them on a sort of girls double date night. We were just getting ready to go, and a young guy walks into the coffee shop, jabbering on strangely. My first thought was that perhaps he had an illness or disability, so I smiled and quietly whispered to our girls to not speak to him.
I drove that night, so we all piled into my vehicle and began to drive off, when this same guy walked out of the coffee shop towards my car. I saw that he wasn’t paying much attention so I slowed down, and then stopped the car in the parking lot. This man quite literally face-planted right into my passenger-side door, as if the vehicle were invisible to him. Inside of me, I felt like I heard “He is NOT Ok”, and then I repeated that out loud to my friend, and she agreed.
We looped around the parking lot and were going to drive off, when the we saw the sameman standing in front of the store down the road, peeing in the street. I then heard the Spirit say, “He is extremely intoxicated” and at that point it was pretty obvious! I kept driving on, pulled up to the stop lights and turned right, onto the highway. As I drove farther away from the man, I heard “Go to him, or he dies tonight.”
I didn’t really like those words, so I turned to my friend, almost asking permission to ignore it, saying “Should we turn back for him? I don’t think he’s ok.” She proceeded to tell me she wasn’t sure and to go with my gut. Again, I heard “Go to him, or he dies tonight” You have to realize, our lows here tonight in MN are -12! It was SO painfully cold out there.
I turned the car around, and parked in a gas station to watch him. He headed straight for the highway and began to run down the side of the road. Knowing he was intoxicated, I immediately picked up my phone and called 911. He kept running down the highway, so I followed him slowly behind, on the side-road to his right. After about 10 words came out of my mouth while I was on the phone, this man completely passed out and hit the ground. I sat and stared while talking. I then heard “He is going to be way too discombobulated if he tries to get up, he might bolt right into the street”
I got out of my car, and walked toward him, and he stumbled towards me, further into the ditch. He again passed out, right in front of me this time. I stayed on the line with the police, and just as I had heard in my Spirit, ‘He may run into the street’, The man got up off the ground and headed straight for the street, but tipped over before he hit pavement. Had he not been lured over to me in the ditch, he would have indeed been passed out right in the middle of the highway.
I continued on for quite a while, talking with this man trying to keep him with me so that he wouldn’t wander off. I was concerned about him getting hit or freezing to death. The police finally came, and believe it or not, this young man actually repeatedly thanked me for helping him! Never seen that one before! Although, he actually thanked the police man too, so perhaps he was just a little too intoxicated to realize where he was being taken
I guess the point of my story tonight, is that yes, sometimes we do take time to Seek God, to Pray…. But other times, with Christ in us, and the Holy Spirit at work in our lives… if we will just learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and Christ gently leading us, a huge majority of our questions will be answered, before we even realize that they are questions. He is constantly leading us and nudging in that direction He would like us to go. Sometimes it will feel like he’s Gentle, and other times you may feel like you are being yelled at. But the point is, He’s There. All the time. The End
Wow Katie. Great example of not just hearing but doing. Hearing “how” each other walks this out is so encouraging; I know I need to hear these examples. So often I do what we in the south call “himmy haw” where I argue with what I am hearing – is this you Lord? you mean now? but what about ______? The zenith of vascillation happens. Too many times, I end up paralyzed.
Is it just me? When I do act in spite of this himmy haw thing, it’s ALWAYS affirming and the volume turns up abit 
Katie,
Wow, what an adventure! Thanks for taking the time to share this divine encounter with us. This is a powerful story that encourages us to be sensitive to our surroundings. Prayer and communication is always happening because Christ is literally our dwelling place everywhere we go. As the scriptures say, in Him we live, move, and have our being.