Cruise Control All the Way to Change

This past week I drove up to Chicago to watch my nephew play football and celebrate his 18th birthday which included a manhood initiation. I love the manhood initiation thing. It is a more formal recognition of the movement from boyhood every man makes but here in America we don't know exactly when we do it. But that is for another blog. As I was driving up I was commenting to my Dad how amazing it was we could sit as if we were in a living room and be streaking across a highway up to Chicago. I had the cruise control on and we were just motoring along. Cruise control is a fantastic invention. Anyway, I realized I will do just about anything to not have to take my cruise control off. Someone would move into my lane and I would think,"Aw, Come on. Don't make me click off and reset!!". As if that was a really complicated process. It got me thinking. I recently heard a great definition of leadership. It was "Leadership is the art of introducing change at a rate people can tolerate." I like that. As we have grown as a church we have had the opportunity to introduce change. I have found that change is hard on people and as a leader that can be frustrating. This trip up to Chicago reminded me that I am no different than most people. I am resistant to change too. I like it when I have the cruise set just perfectly and it bugs the bejeebers out of me when I have to take the 5 seconds to reset it. Sometimes I have to push two separate buttons. Imagine!! It reminds me that I might be a leader but I am first a follower. The One who leads me introduces change to me and for me. Sometimes I am resistant. But there is a lot of changing to do if I am ever going to be like Jesus. From now on whenever I have to click off cruise control I am going to remind myself not to be so resistant to change. I will remind myself that I am a sheep and my Shepherd leads me to places I have not yet been. But He is leading me to the place I have always deep down wanted to go. My guess is He is doing the same thing with you. So, click off the cruise and tell Jesus you are ready to follow Him anywhere and let the changes begin.