Recently, we were holidaying in Crete with another couple when we decided to hire a couple of mopeds. At the rental shop they asked us all if we had ridden a moped before. I said yes. (I lied). ‘How hard can it be I thought?’ I don’t want to appear like an English idiot I reasoned. So with Anna on the back, I turned the key and gunned the engine. Tearing out of the shop, taking the corner way too wide, I found myself on the wrong side of the road into on coming traffic.
Of course I immediately rectified that situation but when we came to the next corner the moped went wide again. I was puzzled, I had assumed the steering would be fairly light but I was having to actually wrestle this beast round the corners. We got back to our chalet safely, mainly due to the relatively straight roads once we were out of the town. Later on I went out for a bez on my own and found the steering much easier – maybe I was just getting use to it? This thought was dismissed the next time all four of us went out as once again the steering became unwieldy. I began to assume it was just the fact there was now two of us onboard. It wasn’t until two days later that Anna revealed that as we went round the corners she was actively leaning the opposite way to me, attempting to counter balance and in reality becoming the reason turning was so difficult. It was scarier for her to lean into the corners with me, but ultimately safer as we stayed on the correct side of the road.
I don’t know about you but I often feel like I am guilty of ‘counter balancing’ Jesus. I happily jump on His moped and go along for the ride, but when it comes to those corners I feel much safer leaning my own way and risking the on coming traffic than I do leaning His way and giving Him complete control.
Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.’
