A friend of mine asked me this question last night in our 12 step meeting. He had recently slipped up and was frustrated with how he got there and how long it took him to get back on the right path.  He said it was like riding in a Bus with God.  When we are willing to let God drive the bus He knows exactly where to go and will get us there safely and on time.  But we usually start to get agitated at the route or the speed and decide we’d be better off as the driver and eventually we push God out of the drivers seat and take over.  But what we don’t realize is that we’re actually blind and can’t even see where we’re going.  So we bump into trees and light poles along the way until finally, we realize how foolish we’re being and we humble ourselves and ask God to drive the bus again.  He’s happy to do it as soon as we ask.  And He is so patient with us.  He doesn’t berate us or punish us (we did that to ourselves as we drove around bumping into things) — He only loves us.  He always loves us.  And He is a great bus driver!Another thing that I learned last night was during our AA Big Book study.  We were studying Chapter 4: We Agnostics.  In the 1st and 2nd paragraph on page 45 it states:

“Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? 

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.”  [emphasis added]

God does not give us the power to solve our problems — HE solves them.  Hello!!  I was absolutely floored!  I never noticed that before.  All along I’ve been wanting strength to overcome my problems when that’s not what He wants for me at all.  He wants me to have strength to serve others — especially those who suffer like I do.  He wants me to have the power to help turn others to Him so that He can solve their problems too.

He is the one who heals us.  We do not.  He is the one who heals others.  We do not.  He is the one who solves our problems.  We do not.

Oh, we can certainly try and we do all the time — remember the blind bus driver analogy?  That’s what happens when we go about trying to solve these complex, difficult, hopeless problems all by ourselves — we bump around into things making a fair mess along the way.  But as soon as we turn to Him?  As soon as we give our will to Him?  Then He is back in the driver’s seat and the ride is smooth, it is in the right direction, and we will always arrive on time.

I hope that this was an “ah-hah!” moment for you like it was for me.  I didn’t see it.  Someone else shared it with me.  But God helped my unbelief.  My lack of understanding.  Now I see.  And I’m grateful, because it encourages me to try even harder to help others by giving my will to God.

Be at peace when God is the driver.  If he is not your driver yet, or if you don’t believe in God, I hope you can believe in a higher power that can help you in a way that nothing else and no one else can.  It just takes the tiniest amount of hope for it to work 🙂

That much I know is true because that’s how it worked for me and it has worked for millions others just like me and just like you.

My name is Mike