Mon: I like Driving

I think most guys enjoy driving. Maybe it’s instinctual, the ability to go fast makes us better hunter/gatherers and we can better claim dominion over this planet that God gave us. Except somewhere along the lines people forgot the purpose of going fast (myself included) and now just go fast for going fast’s sake, and anytime you’re doing X for X sake there’s a good chance X just might be getting abused. Outside of activities requiring a radar detector or at least an eagle eyed passenger there’s a bunch of other things I enjoy about driving.

I’ve heard this from a lot of people and personally find it to be overwhelmingly true: driving can be very peaceful. Obviously I’m not talking about that bumper-to-bumper stuff when you’re already 10 minutes late and the guy in front of you keeps threatening to switch lanes but never actually does. I mean the regular driving, where it’s quiet and you have time to just think, listen to music or podcasts (but definitely not talk radio), and just kind of coast and reflect. It’s hugely cathartic. In fact if cars were around in King David’s time he wouldn’t have written most of Psalms. Whenever he was feeling that need to refocus he would’ve looked at his harp, looked at his Lincoln Navigator, looked at his harp….and hopped in his Navigator (I don’t really see David as a sports car or Ferrari type of guy). He would've just drove around his Kingdom, talking to God, listening to Ethan the Ezrahite on his MP3 player and feeling better about life.

While we’re talking about characters in the Bible who would’ve enjoyed driving, I’ll throw out Paul which ties nicely into my next point. Driving is so, so, so convenient. Living in this time in history sometimes I’ll just stop and try and realize the vast improvement in everyday things between the past and now, and I can never really grasp it. So sometimes I have to imagine how people of the past would have reacted to being in today's situations. Paul is a prime example, that guy would’ve considered taking on a second affliction in turn for making the missionary journeys in a Toyota. He could’ve avoided all those shipwrecks, and snakebites. So I try not to take the convenience part of driving for granted.

Finally I have a small control freak streak in me, so if you thought at some point in this entry “oh yea riding in cards is nice” you’d be close but not right. Driving cars is nice; being able to control any object with that much potential is nice, watching someone else control and make decisions about that object is only ok. I can’t even explain the control thing, because really you’re at the mercy of the other 90 drivers on your little stretch of road so it should be something that people who enjoy being in control hate. mysteriously that’s not the case though.

Sometimes I wonder how much longer they’re going to let us drive before everything becomes automated for “safety”. I hope it’s not in my lifetime, or at the very least later on in my life after 2051 when my driver’s license expires (I love AZ). I just don’t think it would be the same to hop into some bubble that takes you where you tell it while you just sit there, because you wouldn’t just sit there. You’d have to bring along work or a textbook, or something to make sure you stay busy, always busy. Driving gives you an opportunity to look busy, feel productive while having your mind free from regular the craziness of work, school, or the dreaded "other". It’s a secret bonus time outside of quiet time, or bedtime that let’s you think about the things you’d always wanted to think about. I like that.