Driving with Jesus

woman driving - photo by Amanda Mills, USCDCP on PixnioI often drive with Jesus in the passenger seat, and we have a colloquy. At times I imagine Christ somewhat sarcastically calling me out on my complaints. “Really? You thought that was sooo bad?”

“I know. You are right,” I reply, and instantly my priorities are reshuffled, and my anxieties are smothered in awareness of the goodness I have around me.

More often than not, though, my traveling companion will challenge me to act on things I have been resisting out of fear or insecurity. One thing about riding alone in a car with Christ is that there is nowhere to hide. Both of us know my truths. Both of us know my fears. Both of us know where I am being called. Sometimes only one of us believes I can really get there. But hearing that belief that Christ has in me, just as clearly as if it were the voice of my best friend, is the confidence-builder I need to take that next step.

Photo by Amanda Mills, USCDCP on Pixnio.

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Lisa Kelly is a wife, mother, and Ignatian Associate living in Omaha, Nebraska. She works to help organizations integrate spirituality into their planning and systems. She and her husband, Tom, completed the 19th Annotation in 2005, just prior to spending two years living in the Dominican Republic with their three young children, supporting the work of the Jesuit Institute for Latin American Concern. Additionally they have lived in El Salvador and Bolivia for extended periods.

5 COMMENTS

  1. I had a dream one night that I was driving and the steering wheel flew off. I have literal or ‘warning’ dreams at times, so in the morning I immediately thought well I’d better have the car checked out, etc., and was a bit nervous about it.

    Later that day it came to me that the day before I’d said aloud during one of our/my conversations: ‘Jesus,
    take the wheel’ and I smiled. He’s got the wheel – which was the message of the dream.

  2. This reminds me of a book, a collection of radio scripts mostly, called “Fran and Jesus: On the Job”, with just this premise. Years ago, I listened to the woman author Mary Whelchel on her (Protestant Evangelical) radio program, The Christian Working Woman. I still remember some of her stories and benefited from one of her Bible Studies. Here’s a link, if anyone here is interested (NAYY): http://www.amazon.com/Fran-Jesus-Job-Mary-Whelchel/dp/0842312269/

  3. So true. We find ourselves in many situations where we have to wait – in line at the grocery store, hospital waiting room, and rather than feeling cross and waste the time, why not use it for prayer? It takes some getting used to, the entering into the Divine while out in the secular world, but it is a worthwhile habit to get into.

  4. Very interesting idea. He could be the “companion” while you’re waiting at a bus stop, or someone sitting next to you on a train or airplane, or ahead of you in the checkout line in a store….
    The possibilities are endless. Thanks!

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