Cruise Control
It was an early spring morning as Judy and I drove through
the Columbia River Gorge on Interstate 84 heading back to Bozeman. We had left
Portland about 4 am after spending a week visiting our oldest son and his
family. Judy and our dog Sparky were fast asleep. I was trying to stay awake
myself. I had the radio on, my window open and cruise control set at 65. When I
woke up all I could see was metal!
I could not have dozed off for more than few seconds.
Startled by the fact that I was about to rear end a semi, I jerked the steering
wheel to the right slamming on the brakes. I heard the crunching of metal, the
squealing of tires and the pounding of my heart all at once. By the time I
stopped on the side of the road, I knew I was in real trouble.
As the semi kept on going, I got out of the car to look at
the damage. The hood was bent like a tepee. The front left headlight was gone
and the front bumper was sagging toward the ground. Judy was screaming, the dog
was barking. I though I was having a heart attack.
Amazingly, the motor kept running with no clanking or fluid
running out from the engine. I drove to the next exit, ran into the convenient
store to get a cup of coffee to calm my nerves. Believe it or not we drove the
remaining 650 miles home without incident and wide-awake.
I share this story as a reminder that whenever I am tempted
to put my life on cruise control I am probably heading for disaster.
Procrastination is a tough taskmaster. I am learning the discipline of dealing
with life issues up front not putting them off. Tomorrow can be a long way away.
The Bible says: “A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a
day off there, sit back, take it easy; do you know what comes next? Just this:
You can look forward to a dirt poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest.”
By the way, I now use my cruise control sparingly.
