Really?!?Sample

Swerve

I grew up in a place that had a major highway running right through the middle of town. While this had no bearing on my childhood, things changed when I enrolled in driver’s education in high school. I can remember vividly taking the car out on that highway for the first time. It was an extremely busy stretch that was a few miles from Chicago. One distinct memory from that traumatic moment was my instructor, who was terrified for his life, yelling, “Pick a lane!”

While staying in your own lane is a good practice for the highway, there are times when Jesus encourages us to swerve. In Matthew 8, a Roman Centurion breaks cultural protocol by leaving his lane to find Jesus. Centurions had authority (and large egos), and they would not normally seek someone out for help. But in spite of that, he approached Jesus saying, “My servant is ill. I know you can say the word, and he will be healed.”

At that point in history, tensions were high between the Roman Empire and the Jewish community. It would have been perfectly acceptable for Jesus to stay in His lane and for the Centurion to stay in his. Instead, they with broke protocol and something powerful happened.

To find unity in our world, we have to do the very same thing. We have to swerve out of our own lane into the lane where other people are driving. And when we meet people on their own turf, they will trust us more and be willing to welcome us into their lives. The key here is that we must intentionally break away from what’s normally accepted and not wait for others to come to us.

Whose lane do you need to swerve into this week? How can you build more unity, despite personal differences, in your community, school, workplace, or family?