Race Cars and Needed Mistakes

When I was a child, my Dad was a drive and mechanic for an off-road racing team called Firehouse Racing. We spent weekend after weekend in the desert watching the dark maroon dune buggy with the number 1 on the side race by, cheering on the team. My dad would always try to include me when the car came into the pit. My esteemed position was window wiper and occasionally I would have the honor of holding a wrench or refueling. When the race was over, they would let me sit in the drivers seat and I would pretend that I was racing the car through the desert.

As I got older my Dad would take me out in the buggy and we would do a lap or portion of the track when no one was around. It always amazed me how he could maneuver that car at such high speeds through such narrow spaces.

One day when I was old enough, my dad decided to let me drive the car. I was ecstatic. Finally! I hopped in the seat and we took off. The power of the engine scared me at first so I cruised in second gear for a while to get used the car. My dad gave me a few lessons on how to use the cars weight and the terrain to my advantage. I was getting confident and started racing through the narrow washes. At one point, I lost control and we flew through a massive bush and stalled. I immediately apologized and said I hope I hadn’t broken anything.

Usually you would expect a response like, “I hope you didn’t break anything either!” but my dad looked over at me and said, “You know Mike, if you drive this car and never break anything on it, you aren’t driving the car the way it was meant to be used.”

That response has been floating around in my head the past few weeks.

I have felt so much pressure with this new project the past few months not to mess anything up. But I feel like to often I let my fear of “breaking something” stop me from fully using the gifts God has given me. I’m afraid of messing things up. I am afraid of making mistakes. I am afraid of failing.

But maybe a mistake here and there isn’t all that bad. If we play it safe all the time, we never give ourselves the opportunity to reach for the sky. We sell ourselves short. Our fear of messing things up ends up holding us back from accomplishing what our hearts desire.

This year I am asking God to give me the courage to not be afraid of breaking something. I am asking God to give me the wisdom and discernment to look back on the mistakes I make and not only see the lesson to be learned, but also to walk confidently forward with the knowledge that I am putting every ounce of my heart into this.