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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for February 3, 2011
“Are You Like a Kid in a Car Seat?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
When I was a boy, car seats for kids just hung on the back of the seat.
There was no strapping them in, and they were barely padded.
Sure, they lacked safety, but they made up for it with a little steering wheel. The child could sit in his car seat and drive, just like Daddy.
Have you ever seen kids imitate driving? They ball up their little fists and jerk their hands up and down like they’re milking a cow. They’ll make engine noises, then comes the inevitable squealing of the tires. Of course when you jerk the steering wheel like that, there’s bound to be some tire squealing.
Now blink your eyes and those same kids are suddenly in driver’s ed. That’s a scary thought. Yesterday they were begging for a Kit Kat and now they’re begging for the keys.
How on earth are these kids going to go from play driving to real driving? Well that’s where driver’s ed comes in.
One thing you learn in driver’s ed is the importance of the “long view.” New drivers are prone to lean heavily on the short view. They only look just a few feet around the car.
And what happens when you rely on the short view? You end up driving like a little kid, jerking the wheel back and forth just to stay in your lane. It’s a dangerous way to drive.
So in driver’s ed we learn the importance of the long view. We are told to look down the road, which is a bit counterintuitive because how can we tell where we’re going if we don’t look right in front of us?
Once you are an experienced driver, though, you realize that most of the time you are taking the long view. When you take the long view, you barely have to turn the wheel, and you never make jerky steering motions like little kids.
Why not? Because the long view makes it very easy to drive straight and keep the car on the road with only minor course adjustments.
Now listen to this. Some people live their lives like a kid with a steering wheel. They go this way, then that. They are here, then there. They are serial daters. They change their major five times. They marry and divorce. They binge and purge. They lose 30 pounds and gain 40. They bounce from job to job or church to church.
What they are missing is the long view. When you take the long view, you barely have to turn the wheel. Your course corrections are minor.
For example, when I got married, I took the long view. I pictured my wife and I growing old together, with children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, all gathered around us as a strong family unit.
That was the long view of my family, and as I drove along, day after day, minute by minute, I kept that view in mind.
Other men took the short view of their family. They just thought about this moment, “What will make me feel good right now?” That left them jerking the steering wheel like a little kid, reacting to each little thing in front of them, and leaving many of their family members in the ditch.
Mike Floyd was the man who hired me at this radio station. He also ran a sign company, and he had the long view for that company. He wanted to honor God, and one way he did that was by not selling signs for things like gambling or alcohol or tobacco. If he only took the short view, he would have done whatever he could, moment by moment, to make money. He would have jerked that steering wheel in whatever direction led to the most profit at that instant. But instead, he took the long view of building a business that honored God, and he would tell you that God honored that decision with long-term success.
In Tallahassee we seem to have a lot of bank robberies. Recently a man got away with $20,000. Wow! How long do you have to work to get $20,000? Oh wait. They caught him and now he’s in jail for 25 years.
Everyday in Tallahassee people are arrested and thrown into jail. What were they thinking? Well they definitely weren’t thinking about the long view.
I read all the time about guys being arrested for child pornography, or for soliciting a minor online who turned out to be a cop. What were they thinking? Did their long view of life include prison and shame?
Are you a parent? What is your long view of parenting? You need to fix that in your mind and steer steadily in that direction.
My long view of parenting is that my children will be self-sufficient citizens with their own close walk with God and a good relationship with me. So, long ago, I pointed my car in that direction, and I make my decisions accordingly. First of all, I model it for them by being a self-sufficient citizen myself, with my own close walk with God and a good relationship with my children.
See how that works? I have had to make very few course corrections over my years of parenting because I started with that long view in mind.
Some people have the mindset of just living in the moment. There are a lot of songs out there that tell us to live like we’re dying, this moment is all we have, party like it’s 1999.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy the moments. In fact, the moments will be more enjoyable as we take the long view of life and make our decisions accordingly.
Now here’s the real long view. One day I am going to stand before God, and on that day, what will I wish I had done?
That is my true long view. My car is pointed toward eternity, and I’m making my decisions accordingly.
So…are you taking the long view of life, or the short view? If you aren’t sure, watch how you handle the steering wheel.
People with the long view know where they are going and only need to make minor corrections to get there.
But people with the short view, they hardly think about the future, and they end up jerking the steering wheel all over the place, like a little kid in a car seat.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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