How I Stopped My DISTRACTED Driver Habit

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Where are the fighters going? Welcome to the Christian Car Guy Radio Show. I say this calls for action and now, nip it in the bud. How I Stopped My Distracted Driving Habit. I know you're going to go, wow, yes. And let me just tell you that, you know, you're probably wondering how does that intro have to do with how I stopped my distracted driving habit? Well, that's part of the joy of this show. You have no idea at this point, but you will soon. So you may know that old guys, distracted driving is the worst, you know, because we got our flip phones and we're trying to figure out how to text and drive.

It's just not, it's not good. So I definitely would like to unpack that intro for you just a minute because how I stopped my distracted driving habit is definitely the topic of the show today. And I think you're going to really, really enjoy where all God takes us on how relevant this is to everything that's going on right now.

And I truly believe, you know, God just walked me through this all week to trying to show me how this all kind of fits together. So if you listen to the very opening, you might have noticed that there was a scene there, a war movie. It was called Red Tails. It was about this black fighter squadron that rose to great prominence in World War II because the fighter squadron you just heard about, they lost, I guess, focus on what the mission was. In other words, they were distractive fighter pilots.

They were texting and piloting or whatever. But what really happened was that their mission was to protect the bombers in this particular scene. If you can picture these fighters and they're supposed to protect the bombers, but the Germans learned that they were glory hunters. So if they would send a few fighters down, the P-51s would go chase these guys and leave the bombers unprotected. And hundreds of men in these bombers lost their lives as a result of these people being distracted fighter pilots.

But distracted towards their own glory or our own life, which, you know, I'm pointing the finger right back at me, by the way. So when I am distracted driving, and anybody who tells you that they don't ever drive distracted is not, come on now. Liars. Liars. Because, you know, in the old days, I don't know how many, you know, when I first started doing this show, we used to talk about be careful adjusting the radio because it's distracted driving or eating while you're driving or just letting your mind wander.

There's all sorts of things that are like that. So then you might have noticed that the next song I had was Our Awesome God, right? And that becomes just absolutely critical because one of the things we're really going to spend some time on today is Proverbs 3-5, which you may remember is lean not, and I bet you're going to figure out the leaning part.

You know, trust in the Lord with all your, what, heart and lean not on your own understanding. So, and by the way, that leaning, leaning was from the True Grit soundtrack, the movie, True Grit, and it was Iris Dement. And that song, I can actually not listen to it without crying because... Come on, Robert, you cry at a lot of things. Well, my good friend, Miss Beck, who you may know, I've been doing this devotion at home for, I guess, 20 years. But when I first started going there, Miss Beck was maybe 88, and she played the piano. And she, I don't have any idea how many times I've sang that song because it was one of her favorites. And you could just count on, if you went there Thursday morning, one of the songs that we would sing with Miss Beck at the piano was Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. And so when I was unpacking this verse this morning, actually, I was just like, man, that there's no better song on the planet than Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

And so as I heard it, especially sung in that particular style, I couldn't help but picture Miss Beck because if I ever met anybody who leaned on the Everlasting Arms, that was a lady. Very, very cool. So how did I stop my distracted driving habit? Well, the good news is I'm going to spill my candy just right out in front here. But before I talk about how I'd stop my distracted driving habit. What's distracting you from being able to say it?

Apparently my words. But anyway, the question I have for you this morning, and this is a live show, I'm all by myself, so I would love to hear from you, is how do you get focused in driving? How do you get focused in prayer? How do you get focused in your mission? I mean, how is it that you focus your life? I would love to know that.

866-348-7884, 86634, true. So the quick answer, I'll give you to how I stopped my distracted driving habit. I only stopped it actually this morning.

And here's how I did it, or God did it for me, however you want to put that. So this morning on my way to work, it was 27 degrees, and then it snowed last night where I live in Rockingham County. And so there was black ice all over the road.

I mean, it was quite a picture because I'd left somewhere right about 630, and it was 27 degrees, and oh my goodness, there was ice everywhere. Now, do you think that while I am attempting to navigate these roads, that for one second I was tempted? For one millisecond was I tempted to look in my phone, concern myself with, you know, news or Twitter or anything else.

I can assure you I had very, very strong focus on what was in front of me. And when you think about that, I mean, it has come down to, it's pretty simple. So if you trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, as you begin to take out the things that you're really leaning on, like you're leaning on traction, or you're leaning on your brakes, or you're leaning on, you know, these brakes are going to work when I push them down, or you're leaning on there's not a deer going to run in front of you. All of a sudden, when you begin to take the things out of your life that you are leaning on, you start to come down to, whoa, all I got really that I can lean on is God. And so I don't know, but God was just kind of showing me this morning, as you get things kicked out from underneath you in your life, it looks really, really bad, but in a way it gives you an opportunity to lean on the everlasting arms, right? Because, so as I got up this morning, the road was no longer anything I could lean on, my traction was no longer anything I could lean on, so all of a sudden, do you think my prayers on the way to work this morning were stronger or weaker than yesterday, as far as whether or not I would arrive safely? I mean, and if you're like me, and you experienced this week, and all the things that went on between COVID and politically, and all the things that are going on, I mean, my prayer life was fairly robust compared to other week.

Why? Because things were getting kicked out from underneath me that I was leaning on. And so God is showing me how much I really have to lean on, and so it gets back to that question I have for you. How do you get focused? Like, how do you begin to see what it is?

866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. So, you know, as I thought about this, really where God was taking me all week, He kind of took me on this, you know, lesson plan like He always does, and I'm so grateful for him, actually, that one of the very first things was I saw that movie, that movie Red Tails. And how this team of, you know, the Black Fighter Squadron, they focused because they didn't, you know, the white fighter pilots obviously already had a good reputation, and they didn't really have to prove themselves. But they had never allowed the black guys into fighting combat before, so they really had something to prove. And as it was, they couldn't lean on, you know, some of the things that these guys could lean on. They simply were out to prove themselves, and so when they got ahold of the mission, which the mission was not to shoot down German fighters, what their mission was was protect the men in those bombers. Then interestingly, the same men that wouldn't even let them in the NCO club or whatever it was that treated them horrible because they were black, all of a sudden when they began saving their lives, they invited them into the NCO club.

They were buying them drinks and telling them how much they appreciated them. It's an amazing thing that we see the doors that God opens up when we don't have so much to lean on. So what do you lean on?

866-348-7884. We'll be back in just a minute with more Christian Target Show. I'm leaning, leaning, I'm leaning on your lasting heart. How I stopped my distracted driving habit this morning on the Christian Target Show. Oh, there you go. But we need to know how do you get focused in driving? In your prayer mission, right, add a little music and it really gives it some beat, you know.

866-348-7884, 86634 Truth. Well, I had so much fun last week in the Prepare Ye Room podcast I was doing, where I was doing an episode every morning of just a few minutes on what I was studying, that I started a new one this week. It's called Bible Wonders. And it comes out of kind of where my devotions are going every morning.

It's just two or three minutes, sometimes seven or eight. But it's there at christiancarguy.com. So I went through all these things in Bible Wonders, and that kind of leads up to the show. So it might be fun. You can kind of experience them as we go along next week, and where I'm headed, where God's headed, and me, actually, because it's always kind of, what are we going, what are we doing? And so we went from that whole idea of, okay, if I'm on mission, I'm supposed to be going after God's glory, not my glory.

If I'm driving, I should be going after being safe and getting to my destination. Not all these things that I'm worried about filling my life with. So the next place that God took me was this idea of the heart of a child.

And I really looked at that word, like, I think it was Tuesday, I was studying it, studying it, studying it, and I saw something I had never seen before as I looked at the Hebrew, which is really, really beautiful. I'm not going to go into a lot of details about the letters, but I'll just tell you that I think we all know that kids live from their heart, right? They're very open. They're very willing to share. They don't have a big filter.

You know, they're not worried about their image. It's a beautiful thing. Truly beautiful thing. And their faith is like that from their heart. But the letter and the thing I've never heard anybody talk about before that's also in the word child, and it's even in the English world child because you hear the D in it, the, the, the.

Well, D is a dalit, and it stands for servant. And so I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but kids love to help. It's a natural thing. Can I help? Can I help? Especially if you're making cookies or you're out washing the car. Can I help? You're mowing the grass.

Can I help? You know, when they're little, before they learn to stop asking. When did you ever think about how cool is it that we were born, right? Part of the way that God made us was his servants. And just as a side note that King David, his name is a dalit and a vav and a dalit.

In other words, he was the ultimate servant, and the Jews teach that he was. And his whole deal was, how can I help God? How can I build a material? How can I help? How can I help? How can I help?

Well, as you're thinking about your driving habits and those kind of things, you know, what, what can I do to help? Well, that's, it's a lot to do with what the Jesus labor love is, right? That's how God gave it. It was this idea of how we can help. And, and it really goes well with this because honestly, a lot of times as we talk to these single moms, widows, families in crisis, someone has kicked out from underneath them something they were leaning on, either their money or their car or something has happened where they're no longer able to meet their needs. And the beautiful thing is if they call us, excuse me, if they call us, see, they've switched from leaning on themselves and since it's the Jesus labor love, who are they leaning on? And then I can assure you my wonderful, wonderful volunteer that helps me mostly with the calls now, the very first thing that Scott does is pray with them. I mean, it's like, talk about getting on mission. And he was a little discouraged because there were so many needs that came in the last couple of weeks and he goes, Robbie, I just don't know if we're doing all that much.

Because, you know, we only have so many resources. And I said, well, the very first thing you do, Scott, every single time is pray. And if you bring God into the equation, remember that in the beginning of the show where it said, our God is an awesome God, you know, and at the beginning of that song, you might remember Rich Mullins wrote, when he's rolling up his sleeves, he's not just putting on the Ritz because he's got some power in his fingertips, right?

I mean, it's all there as we bring him into the equation. Well, Wednesday morning, which you might know is January 6th, I had these dreams. I actually woke up about 1 o'clock in the morning and I was praying really, really hard for our country, as you might imagine.

And, you know, asking God to come in and actually, you know, bring truth, bring understanding, help us to see what really is going on. And then I slipped into a horrible dream. It was just like I was experiencing hell itself and I was in this tank. I didn't know where I was going.

I didn't know how to drive the tank. I wasn't a very distracted driver because I had to pay attention to everywhere I was going because I was terrified. And I was in this column of all these people that were totally terrified. Nobody knew where they were going, and nobody really even knew what we were running from.

We just knew we were running. And I woke up really upset at God and like, God, where were you? And I was like, why didn't I feel your presence?

Why didn't I call on you? What was wrong with me that I didn't have any sense of anything but terror? And I said, well, where was my family in this? And so interestingly, I fell into the second dream.

And guess what? My family was in this dream, it was still terror, and there was still no God. And so God was like, well, let's go work on that.

So we went and worked on the word terror. Well, again, if you're in terror, I'm telling you, what you're leaning on is gone away, so now you all of a sudden have to lean on God because you got nothing else. Well, unfortunately, what God showed me was therein lies the real mission that we have is there's a lot of people out there that when they're terrified, they don't have option A.

They can't lean on God because they don't have a relationship with Him. And as I really got into that word, I realized, wow, terror means that I've got a heart to go home, but I don't know where to go. And that was the deal. Those people were dying to get somewhere, but they didn't know where they would be safe.

Well, interestingly, trust and terror, both in Hebrew and in English, start with a T. And there's a reason that I think you'll find interesting when we get back. But I got to hear how you focus on things. I would love to hear 866-348-7884, 866-344-TRUTH. So much more Christian Car Guys show coming back. How I stopped my distracted driving habit this morning on the Christian Car Guys show. How about you?

How do you get focused? We'd love to hear from you. It's a live show, and of course, we'll take your calls, 866-348-7884. And by the way, we've got Amy Cabo coming up at 1 o'clock with The Cure. It's a wonderful show. It's live on the Truth Network, 1 p.m. Eastern. And their show today is going to be on leaning on procrastination.

And it's going to feature Eric Twiggs, so it should be an interesting show for those of us who went into the New Year trying to break our procrastination habits. So in my own life, I just seem to be able to find so many things I can lean on, right? I can lean on my health. I've had that leg of my chair kicked out from underneath me a time or two. I can lean on my money. I've certainly had that one kicked out from underneath me. I can lean on relationships.

I can lean on my country. I've leaned on my church. Yet, as soon as one of those falters, you know, my prayer life becomes great, great, great, greatly focused. All of a sudden, you know, it's just like, oh my goodness. Well, we were talking about this dream I had that we were just being pursued. And whether it was with my family or not, it was a terror thing. And I felt a fear that, you know, just was like a sense of hell that I really had not had in my mind of what it would be like to be in hell and really have no place that would be home, that would be safe, that would be a harbor. And you may have heard me say before that I read it, I'm not absolutely sure it's true, but that there are more songs written about going home than there are about love.

And I remember that when my parents divorced, one of the things that really, really rocked my world was I had a sense, and it happened to me when I was like 19, I was like, uh-oh, I can't go home anymore because my parents aren't together. You know, that sense of home, well, that sense of home is the kingdom. It is the kingdom of God.

And the good news is, no matter what your home like was life on this earth, the home in heaven is going to be awesome. And when we begin to see what that is, that, when you look at that verse, trust in the Lord with all your heart, well, that t-t sound that's in the word trust, it is also in the word tuv, which means goodness. And goodness is what God said right after he made light, like that's good. But the interesting thing about the word good that they teach in that letter t-t is sometimes things look really, really bad, but they're actually really, really good. And that's kind of, you know, what they talk about in Romans.

All things work together for what? For good. So sometimes the good is hidden in something that literally we're getting our, you know, one of our legs of our stool getting kicked out from underneath us.

But interestingly, as I said at the, you know, right at the end of the last segment, terror also starts with that t-t sound. Why? Because here's a person that doesn't know where home is. And it really is their heart is longing for that place. And so interestingly, when we become fearful, all of a sudden our focus becomes more kingdom focused, because again, what we're trying to find is any port in a storm, right? We're trying to find a safe harbor. We're trying to find a place where we feel good. But good is often, you know, not what we may think it is. But yet God is behind all the stuff that's going on, and He's helping us to see, you know, kind of where we go from here. And obviously, I think this is just an amazing thing to really ponder as I look at my own. And my family would tell you, I may be the Christian car guy, but I struggle with all sorts of driving bad habits, one of which is destructive driving, whether it's a phone, or the radio, or, you know, being mad at something, or however that works.

I'm going to tell you, just like you, I'm pointing all five fingers right back at me. I struggle there. And I drive a lot, because I drive over an hour to work, you know, and back every day, and so I'm in the car. And so I was thinking about it this morning as I was thinking about, what am I leaning on, right? I'm leaning on the car coming towards me, which is often a big truck, that that person is sober, that that person is not distracted. I'm leaning on the fact that their safety devices are working. My safety devices are—think about all the things that I'm leaning on that I think it's okay right this minute to check something else. I think it's okay right this second to do—and, you know, whatever it is that I think it's okay to do that would be considered destructive driving.

However, you're listening to a man that understands something that I wonder if you do. Because when I got hit by the Jeep and was crushed and ended up two years in surgeries and all getting reconstructed, that was back when I was in my 30s, that Jeep wasn't going but like, you know, maybe seven or eight miles an hour. I mean, this was not allowed a speed. And what it did to my body at that speed—and oh, by the way, you know, I remember trying to push it away. So to go back to that story, there I was. I was at the Jeep Jamboree. The man uphill from me had left his Jeep out of gear and walked out. I was getting a root beer for my son. I hear the crackling of wheels behind me and here comes his Jeep. It's on me. But I'm telling you, at eight miles an hour, maybe five miles an hour, I don't know, it was not going 20 miles an hour when it hit me.

But let me just tell you, I was thinking about it this morning as I was thinking, should I go 30 or should I go 40? That a difference of 10 miles an hour when you've got 3,000 pounds or 2,500 or whatever your car weighs, or in the case of those trucks, 8,000 or 9,000 pounds that is moving at whatever speed? Oh, my goodness. I mean, this is a phenomenal amount of force that we are wielding. And we're leaning on all these different things, including our tire pressure and like, oh, my goodness. And I thought, wow, God, what an opportunity to really consider you. I mean, if I really can lean on you in this situation, you're going to have me, like that fighter group in the Red Tails, right, on mission.

My mission is to get to my destination safely and along the way not hurt anybody else either, because, you know, you've got all these other people that are on the road with you. You've got all these other things going on. So what can I do to really begin to see the weight of what it is that I'm involved in? And so, you know, it's kind of like that with prayer for me.

I don't know if it is for you. Like, man, I'm fixing to go into the presence of the God of the universe. I mean, way, way, way above the president or way, way, way above anybody that you'll ever talk to in your life. And this person loves me more than any person that I've ever known. And how can I get a sense of that so that when I enter in to the sanctuary, that place where he and I meet in our heart, in my heart, how can I get a sense of really what's going on here and how important it is because he's entrusted with me, right, my family. He's entrusted me with my kids. He's entrusted me with my friends. He's entrusted me with all these people that clearly I have.

If I'm leaning on a lot of my own understanding here, we're talking about a lot of shipwrecks. I'm leaning on, like, what I know about financial stuff, right? I mean, I know Hans, and he's a good guy. And, you know, those people that know me say, I've got friends, you know. But, oh, my goodness, you've got a real friend.

And he understands things that your best, best, best, best, best friends. And so as I really think about this whole topic of distracted driving, if I'm listening to my wife, am I distracted? How important is that conversation?

If I'm listening to my boss, am I distracted? If I'm listening to a client or somebody doing another radio show, you know, a perfect example really was last week. Clay called, if you listen to the show, and I got distracted by the time. I thought, there's not enough time to let Clay say what he has to say.

And so I didn't handle that well, you know, not what God had in mind. And so I'm thinking, wow, I've got to really get a sense of how awesome is God, right? I've got to get a sense of how big what I'm doing really is and how he really wants to give me this safe harbor.

Like, Robbie, you're good. You don't have to be terrified because, right, you are in the kingdom. It's in your heart. That's what Jesus said. So when we come back, I definitely, Mike, would love to hear from you. 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back with much more Christian Car Guy show coming up. We'll be right back. How I stopped my distracted driving habit today on the Christian Car Guy show.

How do you get focused on what it is that you're doing? 866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. And I'm so excited to have my good friend Sarah Linda in Washington, Port Orchard. But I think it, I thought, isn't it Snow Mahomish or something like that, Sarah Linda?

No, no, no, we're not. We're on the Kitsap Peninsula. It's just across from Seattle. And we don't get too much snow over this way, but sometimes we do because we've got a lot of water around us. Oh, I was talking about the city of Snow Mahomish.

Oh, Snow Mahomish. That's okay, that's all right. We do get it sometimes. But thinking of being focused, anyway, this morning I saw the time and I thought I'd better get up because it's 7 o'clock here when you start. And, you know, I want to be sure I can get to you. And often I'm a little late. But this morning I just really got focused. And I made the bed so the big boy, our cat, will get on it ahead of time. Anyway, I just want, I want him to, if I happen to take a nap and he's, and I've not left the bed, you know, in disarray, well, he'll be right where I want to, well, anyway, that's another story.

I won't go there. But anyway, I was focused to get everything done so I could hear. And, you know, that focus is important. And there was other things that came to my mind, but we're talking about going through traffic. Well, my husband, you know, when he was, he would, he was very, very attentive to traffic. But he was very attentive to the Lord at the same time. And he traveled all over the world.

And, you know, I mean, he'd been to India 14 times, et cetera, et cetera. But this one time, I think he was down south somewhere, probably in Texas or somewhere, in a way. He was with someone going through traffic. And the host, wherever he was speaking, I guess he was with. But he was, he was, my husband was doing the driving.

And this man said, you know, I think all the angels go before you and clear the traffic. Because he just, I mean, he was, he had no fear. But no, you know, he just, wherever he went, was very attentive to what he was going through. But he was always, he was talking about the Lord all the time, you know.

And I just, I just didn't see him on that. I guess we were living down south at that time. Yeah, that's right.

Okay. You know, it's, memories get a little, but you got it. And when you're really on business for the kingdom, and you feel that, you are protected, you know.

We're just under his, and that's the way my husband was like that. And I just, my daughter has this, that we, what's the word, Susanna? You walk humbly, you seek justice, and walk humbly with your God. And she was just listening to you, and she said, that's what she hears in you. That you have that humble walkway for God, and that's what can be that. And that's childlike trust, and that's the way my husband was.

He talked to leaders, whatever, he didn't matter to him. But it was just, and that's what I hear when, anyway, you make us full of laughter. We were just talking together here in the kitchen. You're a great joy, and thank you for your, well, thank you for being, yeah, there's so many things that come to mind. But just, yeah, that's what, oh, she was saying when she, my daughter was saying when she's driving, she thinks of a song about there's a hundred million miracles.

Well, I think we, the flower drum song she was telling me. Oh, wow, yeah. So, you know, and that, you know, those are happening around us every day. And that's what, all those things kind of flood into our minds about how he takes care of us. Yeah, that's a beautiful thought, really. And I think about when I'm driving, you know, and I'm really focused on God. Yeah, you can't help but notice, wow, that tree, God, you did an amazing job right there. I mean, that thing is awesome. Or, you know, or you see something that you clearly see God, and you're paying attention to your driving, but at the same time, you're in the moment. Yeah, that's it.

That is the word. I'll have to tell her, because I turned the radio off, so I'll have to tell her what you just said. Well, thank you so much for calling in, Sarah Linda, you are a dream. I am so grateful, and I'm so grateful for how you share your husband with us.

He's clearly in your heart, and now he gets to be in ours a little bit, so thank you. Oh, that's wonderful. God bless. You're welcome.

That's awesome. Thank you. Have a great afternoon, or a great morning, as it is there. No, morning, here. I've got to have breakfast, yeah. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

So, wow, isn't that it? Like, if we could just be in the moment. I mean, if we could live where God has us right this minute, with him, right? Constantly in prayer, but there's this thing that comes along, it's called temptation. And so, that was really, that was the last of my lesson plans this week, that God had me on that word. Like, what distracts me, God? Well, temptation distracts you, and it's not unlike those red-tailed fighter pilots that, right, their own life, you know, the fighter pilots they replaced, they were more interested in their own story, in their own glory, rather than in what God's up to, right? And so, if I could somehow or another find, and I'm not, you know, I'm just, I'm struggling with the same things you do. How can I go after what God's after in the moment is an interesting way to fight temptation, and as Sarah Linda pointed out, it has everything to do with faith. And that letter is right in the middle of the word temptation when you look at it in Hebrew, and I was, I couldn't help but note that, wow, as I'm saying the Lord's Prayer these mornings, I'm going, Lord, lead me not into a place where I'm seeking after something other than you. And I think that's going to help me with my distracted driving habit. So, yeah, I stopped it for a day, but tomorrow or maybe this afternoon, when the temperature's up, I'm going to have to refocus. So, you got something you can write me or whatever, you can go to christiancarguy.com. It's all there. I'm so grateful for all y'all and for opportunity to share the 2021 with you. Of course, we all need to slow down. Jesus walked everywhere He went and got it all done in 33 years. And if we just spend more time with Him, I think we'll be less distracted. Thank you.