A Plastic Bag & 65 mph Car

Have you ever hit something, not someone, but an object with your car?

About two weeks ago I was driving home from Anderson on a wonderful sunset lit evening. Of course, me being me, I was speeding home. On this particular evening the wind was howling and blowing heavily against my car. I sped down the winding road and then quickly climbed the paved countryside. As I drove, my eye caught a white object flying through the wind - a white grocery bag. The plastic bag landed directly in the path of my car, and I pressed harshly on the gas to accelerate into it. The plastic bag disappeared under my car as I raced over it. Milliseconds later the plastic bag shot out from under my car and I watched through my rear-view mirror as the bag stayed in the cars slipstream. The bag delayed there for a moment, hovering, safe from the wind. But suddenly the wind grasped the bag from it's momentary haven and rushed it off in every other direction.

The Holy Spirit touched my heart as I continued home.

I am that bag. You are that bag. Jesus Christ is that car.

It's a weird thought at first - welcome to my mind - but let's unpack it a bit. We are individuals who without focusing on Jesus are wandering through life catching the hippest (or easiest) wind. By not living for Jesus we are simply chasing selfish desires that change more frequent then the directions of the wind - a wind that momentarily pleases us, but we grow tired of the flow, so we jump ship to another. We grow restless and become controlled by the wind itself.

That is until Jesus comes speeding down the road at us and rocks our world. Where He crashes into us, giving us a safe haven - guiding us from the wind, from ourselves. While under the car driven by Jesus we get charged, gain momentum, and find safety in His slipstream which prepares us to take on the wind that we are later thrown into. We carry His force with us as we travel through the wind, changed by the velocity and power He transferred to us.

Its this momentary hit by Jesus that gives a safe haven. This hit that we should seek after daily. Not because it makes us safe, but because the force that Jesus produces carries us and works through us, spreading to other "plastic bags." This force that we spread is Jesus Himself and His love and His sacrifice for our sin.

The spreading of Jesus Christ is alive in America today. Maybe not completely, but it's my prayer that one day it will be. That one day America as a whole will realize we are all just simple plastic bags floating in the wind, but only Jesus can steady us, prepare us, and guide us to live. Its already started here in Anderson. On January 11th (yes that exact day, I won't ever forget it) NewSpring Church had 258 people sitting in it's lobby for church. It was a packed house with literally no open seat - believe me I looked for all of them. Jesus blew me away on January 11th - He hit me with His force. The best thing is, a packed out church only occurs by the hands, feet, and mouths of the Body. The members tell others - their friends, their coworkers. Volunteers use their skills to serve the church and most importantly, Jesus.

Jesus can use the hands and feet of a "plastic bag" willing to get hit. A person willing to give their life to Christ, allowing His force to power through and overflow out of themselves.

"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you."
2 Corinthians 9:12-14

Let Him hit you. Let Him guide you. Serve others for that is how we serve Him. Spread the force in your life that is Jesus Christ. Seek and pray that its not a momentary hit from Jesus, but an empowering overflow of the Holy Spirit into us.