Life in the Fast-Food Lane
I wish to squelch the rumor circulating the St. Louis area that if my husband wants to hide something from me, he puts it in the oven. Untrue–but only because my husband would never hide anything from me. Maybe I mentioned before that a friend once told me I should stop the pretense and get rid of the stove altogether. Of course, I replied that would be deranged.
“De-ranged,”? Get it?
I know it’s not right, but I relish life in the fast-food lane. Relish it, mustard it and maybe mayo it up, too. My car is a giant take-out bag. Sometimes I get to the end of a week and realize I haven’t used silverware.The drive-through life doesn’t happen quite as frequently now that my kids grew up and are on their own, but when those five children were younger, that was our existence. At the beginning of a school year, I would enter my minivan and start making the rounds to soccer practice, tennis matches, friends’ houses, this meeting, that game, and the other concert—and not leave that vehicle until nine months later when the school year ended. Then, wouldn’t you know it, we would get back in the minivan and drive across the country for vacation.
I confess, every once in a while, the kids and I would play hooky, skip scheduled events and—joy, oh joy—get out of the car. It was awesome to see the ground not moving, but even better to hang with my fam without seatbelts.
If you’re in one of those driving-in-every-direction seasons and spending more time than you like trying to decide between tacos or burgers, there’s good news. Subs or pizza, north or south—none of those are essential, and you can go in a perfect direction.
Proverbs 3:6 is a fave verse of many. “Think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths” (HCSB). Now that really will steer us in the right direction. Verse five gives us the key, as it were. Trust. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, HCSB). I must trust, not in schedules or in my own plans, but wholeheartedly trust in the Lord and in His plan for me.
“I hope I never let this passage lose its drive in my heart.
I don’t want it to become so familiar that I forget how
meaningfully it can change the way we do life.”
I hope I never let this passage lose its drive in my heart. I don’t want it to become so familiar that I forget how meaningfully it can change the way we do life. Talk about truth to remember!
A few verses earlier we read, “Don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands; for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being,” (Proverbs 3:1-2, HCSB). Living according to His truth leads to a full life—a life full of His goodness. And I’ll pick a life full of His goodness over a calendar full of busyness any day–and a gazillion times more over a car full of burger sacks.
Rhonda Rhea is the author of 12 books, including Join the Insanity: Crazy-Fun Life in the Pastors’ Wives Club. Her book, Fix-Her-Upper: Hope and Laughter through a God Renovated Life, is co-authored with Beth Duewel and Rhonda also co-authors fiction with her daughter, Kaley Rhea. Kaley and Rhonda’s Christian romantic comedy, Turtles in the Road, is a hilarious favorite. Rhonda is a humor columnist for many publications and is a TV personality for Christian Television Network. She speaks at conferences and events coast to coast and happily makes her home in the St. Louis area with her husband, Richie Rhea, senior pastor of Troy First Baptist Church. They have five grown children and two grandbabies.
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