I grew up watching the Indianapolis 500 race with my dad. We never missed a year. The speed of the Indy cars was always exhilarating to me, and of course, we would each pick a winner before the race to make it more interesting!
The only time the race was not terribly exciting was when there was a crash and the yellow flag came out. When drivers see the yellow flag, they know to immediately slow their cars down to avoid further accidents. They go from speeds over 200mph down to a fraction of that, just fast enough to keep their tires from cooling off.
So, here we are in the race of life and we’ve received the yellow flag! This is not a state race, or a national race, or a continental race. This is the whole human race. We have ALL received the yellow flag, and we don’t know exactly how long we must proceed at this pace. But we do know that there is danger ahead if we don’t slow down. For many weeks now we have all changed our pace in the race. Some of us are still working from home, some of us are furloughed and some of us have been laid off. No matter what we’re doing or no longer doing right now, it is probably at a much more cautious pace. The Yellow Flag is out.
It’s probable that none of us likes this pace any more than an Indy race car driver likes slowing down in the middle of his race. But in order to avoid future collisions with other drivers, we simply must slow down. This means a total change in how we live our daily lives: how we communicate, how and when we shop for food, how we work online, how we live together. As challenging as it may become, there is an opportunity to stretch and grow. What an excellent time to “grow” the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are all waiting to grow in our lives, while we proceed cautiously.
LIVE THE STORY
Check your pace. How are you “driving” your life right now? Have you taken the time to slow down?
Chip Whitman
Pastor Care & Counseling