Jesus Take the Wheel

Perhaps it is because of our recent driving events at Thanksgiving Point that driving metaphors are on my mind.

Today the sacrament meeting talks were about the gift of agency. The messages resonated with a talk by Elder McConkie that I have read and listened to more than once this week. The talk was entitled "What Think Ye of Salvation by Grace?" In the talk Elder McConkie describes the two great christian heresies: 1) the Trinity, which obscures the true nature and knowledge of God, and 2) the confusion salvation by Grace and Justification, which obscures the true nature and need for the atonement. So how does one "receive" salvation?

God's plan and method has always been agency - the power to choose. Satan's plan has always been force - where people are acted upon. I was thinking about this today, and the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" came to mind. The song was performed by Carrie Underwood in 2006, and was very popular on the country and christian charts. It describes a woman who is driving on Christmas Eve and starts to spin on black ice. As her life flashes before her eyes, she realizes her physical and spiritual peril, and invites Jesus to take the wheel.

I think the song highlights the point Elder McConkie was making. The song implies that safety lies in letting go of the wheel, as the woman does, so that Jesus can take us to where He wants to go. The song invites us to put Jesus in the driver's seat, so to speak.

I like the song, but I don't think it is a good metaphor. Jesus doesn't take the wheel. He doesn't steer the ship. He doesn't control us or force us to do anything. To me, Jesus invites me to drive where he wants me to go. He charts the course and invites me to follow it. The closer I am to God, the more street signs I recognize that tell me where I need to go. I am the one the drives my car, steers my ship, and makes my decisions. God provides the directions if I seek for them.

I was once on a business trip in Lapeer Michigan, which is north of Detroit. I usually went to the airport on a route I was familiar with, through Flint and Ann Arbor, but one particular trip I thought I should take a shortcut and try to go south. I didn't even look at a map thinking there would be enough signs to direct me to the airport.

My plan, however, got complicated. There was major road construction and we were forced on to surface streets. I had no idea where we were going. Soon more and more of the businesses had bars on the windows. I pulled in to a McDonalds for dinner and they swung around the sandwich to me in a bullet proof bubble. I knew I was in a bad part of town. I got scared, and I started to pray like the woman in the song.

I felt a prompting to follow a semi that I had just passed. I slowed down and tucked in behind the semi. I followed it for several blocks second guessing the prompting. The semi signaled it was turning right, and I second guessed myself again - should I stay on the main road, or should I follow the semi down a side street? I put my faith in the prompting and followed the semi. I followed the semi for two blocks and then saw a glorious green sign indicating the entrance to the freeway, and the path to the airport. I was safe.

Signs are all around us. It is up to us to act, drive, and follow -- not for us to sit in the passenger seat while Christ takes us to a destination. Whether he tells us to cast our nets on the other side of the boat, to go and show ourselves to the priests, or take up our bed and walk, the invitation is always to DO something.

"If any man will do his will, he shall know the doctrine."

"Lead Kindly Light." I will follow.