Traffic Cones and a Confession

Back in the day.....I had a problem....we are talking when I was like 17, 18, 19 years old. My problem to confess to you is that I used to ....kind of....sorta.... liked to run over traffic cones. You know the bright orange ones that construction workers put up to keep us safe? Yeah...those. I used to like to drive over them REAL slowly and knock them over. Do I know why I did this? No, I can't find any type of disease or medical condition where a person likes to run over traffic cones. I also don't have anything against the color orange, so it isn't that either.

Last week when I was driving through a construction site, (NOT knocking cones over...I am 32 years old right now and can't and wouldn't do that kind of stuff anymore) and I began to think of a connection between those cones and Christ. See the problem I always saw with traffic cones is they don't really can't STOP anything bad from happening. They can be easily tipped, pushed, or driven over. Their main goal is not to prevent accident, but instead simply make you aware of danger.

So WHAT is the connection to Christ? Well God also really can't prevent us from getting into any kind of danger. We are given a choice all the time, everyday, whether or not we really want to follow or listen to God. Now God doesn't quite sit as idly by like a traffic cone, because God is certainly wherever we are TRYING to get our attention like the color BRIGHT orange does.

A great example of this in the Bible is the calling of Samuel. Samuel is sleeping and is awoken by God calling to him. God does this three times but Samuel believes it's Eli and NOT God. Finally, on the third attempt, Eli figures it out and tells Samuel to go and listen for God to call him again. Finally Samuel Hears God After Samuel had finally pushed aside the things of the world that were confusing him, he realized it was God speaking to him the whole time.

Many times I believe we struggle with our decisions. Should we spend time with that person? Should i respond to that text or that snap? And maybe there is even that "voice" in our head telling us not to do something. Instead of ignoring that voice LIKE I ignored traffic cones, let's stop and think- is that voice just really God directing me a different way? IS that just God trying to do something to keep me safe? 

At the end of the day, God desires for us to be safe. God loves us and DEEPLY cares about us. So just like you shouldn't ignore traffic cones, don't ignore the signs God is showing you in YOUR life. Cones are there for a reason, and God is the reason WE are here.