“And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:27-28

Toward the end of this past summer my brother and I had the opportunity to check off a “bucket list” item and drive real fast a few laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a half-day “track experience” and included several events, specifically, autocross, controlled drag racing, and a few lead-and-follow laps around the road course there at the unofficial home of American motorsports.

For a couple of guys who have grown up loving fast cars, you can imagine what a thrill that day was for us! It was a great day, one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and not just because of the cars, the track, and the time with my brother, but because of the wonderful reminder the Lord gave me that day of the importance of proper perspective in this life.

Now, if you’ve ever been a part of one of these events you know that there’s a lot that gets done in a short window of time. The event organizers usually want the patrons to get their money’s worth and get them on the track surface as quickly as possible—they know that’s all that’s on most participant’s minds that day anyway. With that said, for safety and liability reasons, before they let individuals behind the wheel of their cars, they conduct some classroom instruction in an attempt to relay the basics of motorcar racing.

So, first thing that morning we all filed into a large conference room and sat down for a briefing concerning appropriate seating position, hand positioning on the steering wheel, and strategy on the quickest way to drive around the track. This was probably most participants’ least favorite part of the day, but to me it was the most insightful in more ways than one.

During our classroom time that morning, I was struck by how counterintuitive most of what they were telling me seemed in relation to passenger car driving on our public roads. From how close you sat to the wheel, to where you placed your hands, and definitely how and when you used your car’s brakes, it was all very different, and to my mind didn’t seem like it would be the quickest or safest way to get around the track. I mean, I consider myself a good driver, and our roads around here are as challenging as any road course out there, and what they were telling me was 180 degrees from how I had always driven. That’s where a measure of faith came in and I just had to trust that these professionals knew what they were talking about until I could get out there and prove it myself.

Anyway, one of the most interesting concepts they touched on during our classroom time was how to identify the quickest line (path) around the track and the importance of following that line consistently. It was during this discussion that one instructor said something that caught my attention. He stated that as we were driving, we needed to look where we wanted to go—the next turn ahead, not where we were at the moment.

Sounds easy, right? Not so much when you’re going 145 mph, but I digress!

Then he said that as we are out on the track, we may hear the instructors over the radio telling us to “lift up our eyes” or to “get our heads up” and look where we need to go on our line.

Does anything about that sound familiar?

Friends, the Lord reminded me of an important truth in that moment: that we need to be more mindful of what’s ahead of us. We need to do as Colossians 3:2 tells us and set our affection (our thoughts, our minds) on things above. We need to keep our eyes on God’s path for us moving forward, not on the drama all around us. When we do that, it will keep us going in the right direction and help us best navigate to where we need to go!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.