Last Friday as I meditated with my lectio group, I let my mind drift a bit. We were meditating on a psalm, and I went to the two refrains that are often on my tongue these days, “How long, O Lord?” and “Lord, have mercy.” These are prayers I say over and over again, for I believe that the church is in need of reformation, of coming back to its roots, to a deep relationship with God that internalizes the directive of the gospel to love God and love others as we love ourselves. Others might share that our whole world needs reformation, but I am a pastor, so I concentrate on the church!

Anyway, as I let my mind drift through these prayers and other places, I realized that a lot of my focus was taken up by this administration and the acts it is directly or indirectly causing throughout our country. When I went back to the psalm, it told me to keep my focus on God. I envisioned myself driving a car and needing direction. All I had was my windshield to look through. How much of that windshield, I asked myself, is taken up by God? How much is taken up by all of the chaos and turmoil going on in our world, our country, and the church? Those questions made me stop and realize one very important thing:

Too many other things are in my windshield distracting me from God, my true North, my calm in the storm, my unfailing guide and Savior.

I wonder how much my windshield wipers can handle?!?!

As I write this blog post, I think of Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who in early 2009 successfully landed a plane on the Hudson River after a massive bird strike.[i] I’ve seen the movie a few times, and the windshield of an airplane is not a huge area. It was filled with birds which took out the engines. Sully could have gone in any number of directions; that bird strike could have filled his windshield so much that his guide, his training, his focus went out the window. Yet he never let the birds take up his entire windshield. He thought quickly and clearly through his options and took one no one else thought was realistic. It worked. He cleared his windshield and focused on what really mattered – saving the people in his plane.

Last week’s simple reminder really made an impact – I need to clear my windshield and keep focused on God and what God wants for me. All kinds of distractions, dirt, salt, whatever else might get kicked up and try to get me off the road. When I keep those windshield wipers working, when I keep looking for and focusing on God and what God wants for me to do here on earth to help others in Christ’s name, then I’ll be okay.

What or who is taking up your windshield? If it’s not God, have you tested your wipers lately?

Pastor Kimberly

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sully_Sullenberger