Traffic in the DFW area is nothing to mess around with, I just thought you should know that in case you forgot. However, here's why I am thinking about DFW traffic more right now than I ever have. It's because I am teaching my 15-year-old daughter how to drive. It's certainly not for the faint of heart and one of the things that I am really trying to work on is to drive defensively.

When you drive defensively, you are anticipating other people's mistakes. For instance, I come to a complete stop at a stop sign because someone else might run that stop sign. I pause before I try to stop when it turns yellow, because I am anticipating that other people might not do the same. I give myself extra time because I am anticipating that there will be traffic and congestion on 635 because there always is.

As I was thinking about this, Jesus and His disciples came to head because Jesus was very deliberate about this. He even warned them as he was getting ready to be crucified when He said:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33

In other words, bad things are gonna happen to you. There is no way around it. However, it's not going to be the end of you. This means that when we go through life as we drive or live defensively that we should anticipate that things are not going to go our way. We should expect that hardships are going to come and that things are going to be tough. When we enter into that perspective, these things don't sideline us quite so much and they don't devastate us because our hope isn't in this world. Jesus has already overcome this world so that means our hope is in Him and that's a hope that can never be taken away.