I got a new car! I have not had a brand new vehicle in fifteen years. I also have not had a car payment in that long either. I am not one that believes in long and drawn out debt. Buy it, pay for it, keep it. That's me. I had always said that I would get a brand new vehicle when I retired...and so I have.
My least favorite thing in the whole wide world is shopping for a car. I tried to bribe my husband into doing it himself but, since this was going to be mine, he would have nothing of it. I had to go and I had to sit through two torturous hours of choosing options, colors, gadgets.....ugh!
My husband drove it home two days later because I had to get to a class and we were already rushed. When I arrived later that evening, I saw it sitting in my driveway. There it was...brand new, shiny, and ready to go. I parked my car behind it and walked past it peeking inside.
The next morning, I had class again so I got in my old car and drove away. Nice, comfortable, relaxing! That's my car. I have had this car since 2003 and from day one, the seat never reached far enough for me to comfortably reach the pedals so....I have always driven with a small leather pillow tucked at my lower back so I could reach the pedals. All that said, the biggest thing about the car I currently drive is that it is familiar! I like my car. I did not want to let go. The next day, my husband was sick and we had a family event scheduled after church so I had to "go it alone."
I had to drive the new car because I was driving some family members. It took me 15 minutes to park this thing in the church parking spot I had chosen. I tried to back it in but it has some fancy picture that shows you what you're backing into and boy was it distracting. I didn't know whether to look at the screen or my mirrors. We are so conditioned to do things one way. At sixteen I had to work hard to learn how to use those mirrors to my benefit now some computer was telling me how to back in relying on it and not the mirrors!
Oh and remember that chair that would not allow me to reach the pedals, in this new car the pedals come to me. I merely touch a button and the pedals move out without me having to adjust my seat. Everything you could ask for right? After the event I came straight home and parked it.
About an hour later I had to be at the VBS Open House at church so I packed my car, got in it and drove to church. No problems parking that "old" car. I have driven it to VBS, dinner with friends, shopping and have had no problems. I like my old familiar car but just in case....that brand new car sits in the driveway.
Isn't that just like us. When we come to Christ, we are a new creation. We have a new way of thinking, talking, behaving, and it is so to our benefit. But what do we often do? Go back to the old. We go back to the familiar, what we know best, what feels good. When God offers better, we still tend to gravitate to the old....to the familiar....to what feels good.
It's been four days now and my husband drove our car to lunch. He showed me all the gadgets and taught me how to use them. I have a manual I can read but that means I have to take the time to actually read it. God gives us a guide also but it does us no good on the shelf. I can tap into many gadgets but they won't come to me, I have to learn how to use them. So it is with God's Word. My choices are read, learn, and benefit or keep slipping back to the old and familiar.
I think it's time to be Out With the Old and In with the New!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
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