How to Drive Like a Christian: A Lighthearted Guide to Success On the Highway and On the Road of Life

By Terri Cox

Our emotions can get the best of us—especially when we climb behind the wheel of a car. Why is it that a perfectly nice Christian person can absolutely “lose their religion” once they head down the road? It’s a challenge we all face, but help is on the way! How to Drive Like a Christian addresses this struggle, but with humor and practical advice. Author Terri Cox shares engaging personal anecdotes alongside poignant Bible lessons, and you will learn how to integrate these biblical lessons into your everyday life on the highway. Each chapter also features a look at how these driving dilemmas parallel our lives as Christians as we safely move along the Christian road with patience, perseverance, and courage. The apostle Paul reminds us that God will never give us more than we can handle—even when we are behind the wheel in the worst traffic jam!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Feb 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781483494838

Terri Cox

Terri Cox suffered with undiagnosed depression and anxiety in her early twenties before having a mental breakdown in 2015. With the help of her family, friends and psychotherapist, she managed to pull herself out of the dark pit of despair and is now passionate about sharing her story and awareness of mental health in any way that she can. Terri now lives in Hull, where she has a dream job using her European languages skills. She enjoys needlecraft, comedy sitcoms and travelling around the UK.

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COX

Copyright © 2019 Terri Cox.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Interior Image Credit: Terri Cox

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9484-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9483-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018914533

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 01/03/2019

Dedicated to

my husband, Chip, who is my favorite companion on the road of life.

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CHAPTER 1

Losing Your Religion

Doris had just finished Bible study and was walking out to the parking lot. Brother Bob, the study leader (and a pillar of the church) was getting into his car. Oh, I just remembered, Brother Bob, Doris called out. Ted dropped me off tonight so he could use the car to pick up the kids at play practice. Do you mind giving me a ride home?

Of course not, he answered. We can continue our discussion on James, chapter 3.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Bob said, This is great. We have time for a few more minutes of exhortation.

I really appreciated your point during Bible study, said Doris, that the tongue is such a small part of the body, but it can do such great damage.

Yes, and those of us who are willing to call ourselves Christians are under constant scrutiny by the unsaved, said Brother Bob. It takes great restraint and constant diligence to keep our speech pure. As James put it ‘No one can tame the tongue, it is a restless evil and full of deadly’… What in the Sam Hill, you crazy imbecile!

Excuse me? yelled Doris as Brother Bob slammed on the brakes.

That crazy moron! He yelped. Right there in the white SUV! Didn’t you see him cut me off! The nerve of that insane Tasmanian devil! Who does he think he is anyway! He probably learned to drive in a demolition derby…

Bob! Bob! Settle down, Doris soothed. We’re okay! I believe that was a four-way stop back there. The SUV had the right-of-way.

Well, that may be so, but those big gas-guzzlers always try to hog the road. Bob’s decibel level was returning to normal.

My, my. You just gave a marvelous example of the scripture we were discussing, Doris said with a slight chuckle.

What do you mean? Bob replied defensively.

Taming the tongue? I believe you were about to complete the quote ‘The tongue is a restless evil and full of deadly… poison.’

Oh, that! Bob laughed. I’m sure brother James never had to drive in traffic with all of these untrained hooligans. He was writing a letter to the early church. They never had to contend with SUV’s and teenage drivers and women who…

Women who what? Doris asked with eyebrows raised.

Oh you know. Never mind, Bob replied hesitantly. Ah, here we are, he lilted while pulling into Doris’s driveway. I’ll see you next week at Bible study. We’ll be continuing in James 3, where it says, ‘the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and so on.’

Doris got out of the car and just stood in the driveway with her mouth hanging open, waving speechlessly.

*****

It has always fascinated me how emotions are intensified when you get into the driver’s seat of a car. All of the things your mother taught you growing up, all of the tenets of the Bible, all of the objectives for positive thinking come to a head when putting the car into drive. While standing in the parking lot with your car keys in hand, all is joviality and camaraderie, but as soon as the key turns in the ignition, it is Every man (or woman) for himself!

Take the case of Brother Bob, for example. If Brother Bob and I had been walking from the Bible classroom and encountered SUV Man at the juncture of the education wing and the choir suite, Bob would have smiled warmly and waved SUV Man by with a cheery blessing. But put the same two individuals in vehicles on the open road, and it becomes a case of Jekyll and Hyde! Bob is no longer sweetness and light. He no longer has the best interest of his neighbor at heart. Brotherly love is tossed out the window, and the road becomes a battleground for dominance of the asphalt.

So what causes the mystical transformation that takes place while climbing behind the wheel? Why do we view our fellow man in such a different light through the windshield of a car?

Perhaps it is the fact that the roadway is a common ground for all people—people who are much like you and people who are, in every possible way, different from you. They are all there and are in a very big hurry to get somewhere, just like you. Or maybe they are not in enough of a hurry to please you.

The other problem with relating to other drivers is just that—you can’t relate to them. For example, if you would like to say, Excuse me, Lady In The Blue Pick-up Truck, but would you please wait until I pass by before pulling out into the road, it just isn’t possible. She can’t hear you. And even if she could, she doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know that you are heading to an important dentist appointment. She has her own priorities. She has waited what she deemed to be an inordinately long time to enter the roadway. She saw this as her big chance to enter the fray and made her way to pick up her children from daycare, and she was late.

You see how difficult relating to other drivers can be?

That is assuming that you are concerned about the other drivers on the road. Maybe you are not concerned about them at all. Maybe you see them as an annoying hindrance to the progress towards your destination. Herein lies the challenge. How do you drive like a Christian? As Brother Bob stated, Jesus and the apostles did not have to contend with rush-hour traffic on the interstate.