25 miles per hour

Well, tomorrow I turn sixteen. I'll be old enough to get my driver's license and drive on the roads. Considering that, my dad and I have been going out for more drives so I can be ready to take the test within the next month or so. We went out for a two hour drive yesterday, actually, and I was able to drive with speeds up to 50 mph for the second time. It was exhilarating, but also a bit frightening. But anyways, after driving at that speed for a while, we got to a neighborhood area and the speed limit dropped to 30 mph. Then it dropped again to 25 mph. I don't know about you, but after experiencing how fast a car could go, 25 mph seemed so SLOW!!! It felt like torture to have so much power and not being able to use it. But you know what, it was for my own good.

The way I see it, when you speed in a neighborhood, there are three ways that it could end. 1. You get out without any injury and without getting caught. 2. You get caught by the police, or 3. You end up crashing into something. Now think about it. Only one of these outcomes is positive. That's only a 1/3 chance of happening. About 33% chance. Not exactly awesome statistics, huh? That's why there's a speed limit. It's to keep us safe and out of trouble, even if we don't like it. Now apply this to your own life, particularly with parents and rules. We have so many choices in front of us and so many different ways we can go, but some of them aren't the best decisions for us. We may have a lot of power over own lives, but how do we use that power? Do we choose parties over school? A boyfriend over our other friends? Sneaking out over obedience? We all want to grow up so fast and be able to finally be independent from our parents, but sometimes we have to slow down and be cautious. We have to go 25 mph.

Our parents and teachers are like our own personal speed limits. We may not like their rules, but we have to obey them to stay safe. We also need to obey them because that's what pleases God. God tells us in the 10 Commandments to "honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12). Now if something's in the 10 Commandments, obviously it's important to God. Not only that, but it's the 5th commandment, before even not murdering or committing adultery. It must be REALLY important. In fact, it's so important that it's repeated throughout the Bible. There's a section in Romans 13 that talks about submitting to authority. And a section in Ephesians 6 on children and parents. Colossians 3:20 repeats the command. Even 1 Peter 2 has a section on submission to rulers and masters. There are a LOT of sections on obedience to authority. Why is it so important? Well, obviously because it's what best for us and what God wants. Think about it. God gave us parents and teachers to take care of us and to teach us, the same way that He'll one day entrust a new generation to our care. Obedience to them is obedience to the Lord. The Bible says that obeying our parents is pleasing to God. They may take away some of the fun in life, but God tells us to listen to them anyways, for our own sake and His glory. And when you slow down, you'll notice that there are a lot of beautiful things right around you. There are meanigful friendships, good grades, and awesome memories to make! Not to mention the trust of our parents. Consider it a scenic route. It may be slower, but you get to experience the wonderful world God meant for us to know.

On that note, I'm switching to a different topic that I'm really excited about! It's actually just something I did this past week that made me really happy and doesn't really relate to this at all. But I want to share it with you guys anyways. So Katy and I have been reading a book series called the Sierra Jensen books which follow the life of a high school girl and her walk with Christ. I can relate a LOT to her story. Actually, it's a bit scary how well I can relate to her at times. I feel as if the author was really writing about MY life sometimes. But anyways, they've been really beneficial to figuring out a couple of things in my own walk with Christ. So there was a part in the second volume of the books where Sierra writes out a list of things she's looking for in a romantic relationship. She tells her parents and they give her a purity ring. That made me think about how I was approaching dating. So this week, I wrote out my own list and told my parents that I wanted a purity ring. I feel a lot better about my relationships, knowing that I won't just jump into dating without knowing what I'm looking for. I'd definitely recommend all high school girls to read this book and make their own list. It's helped me out a lot personally, and I feel a lot of you girls would benefit from the series as well. (you guys can too if you want to).

Well that's all for now. Any prayer requests?