Friday Five: Life in the Fast Lane

Courtesy of RevGalBlog, here’s this week’s F5:

1. Driving: an enjoyable way to clear the mind? a means to an end? a chance to be quiet with one's thoughts? a necessary evil? the downfall of our planet and its fossil fuels? Discuss. Heh, it depends on whether or not the kids are in the car. Every school year, I’m amazed at how quiet the car can be—and how I can actually complete a thought or a conversation with God. It becomes one of my favorite places to be.

2. Do you drive the speed limit? A little faster? Slower? Have you ever gotten a ticket? Last year, I read John Ortberg’s The Life You’ve Always Wanted and really resonated with his suggestion of driving the speed limit as a spiritual discipline to combat “hurry sickness” (to which I’m highly susceptible). Since then, I try to consciously stay at the limit, look for any anxiety that causes and turn it over to God. (That’s easier when I’m the only one in the car. Not long after I started that “discipline” I got a ticket for speeding in my neighborhood because I was concentrating on my son’s jabber in the backseat, heh. But it’s more of a habit now. Heh, ain’t that just how it works with Jesus? Take our eyes from him and things start to slip. But the more we look at him, the less our eyes seem to slip away. Oh, the power of grace!)

3. Do you take public transportation? When? What's your opinion of the experience? I haven’t since highschool, when for about a year (I think) I rode Phoenix’s public bus system from a stop about a quarter-mile from my house to my private Christian highschool about 10 miles away. While I didn’t like it then, it did expose me to a vast array of people with whom I wouldn’t have otherwise mingled. I still remember learning about and combating my own prejudices during that time. So, I actually owe my folks a big thank you for that one.

4. Complete this sentence: _____________ has the worst drivers I've ever experienced. That would have to be San Francisco. It is so cut-throat and every-man-or-woman-for-themselves. Just try putting on your blinker to get into the correct lane off that Bridge and see what happens. Ack.

5. According to the Census Bureau, reverendmother's fair city has the 6th longest average commute in the United States at 29 minutes each way. How does your personal commute rate? I do the kid taxi/carpool thing in the morning, and it takes about 20 minutes to get my daughter and her friend to school (if we don’t hit traffic because people are rubbernecking an accident in the opposite lanes like we encountered this morning, grr), and another 15 minutes or so to drop my son at his K-3, and then another 15 minutes to get home. So, that’s about 50 minutes of commute time in the morning. But the last 15 minutes are worth it, heh. (Hmmm, quiet.)

Bonus for the brutally honest: It has been said, and the MythBusters have confirmed, that cell phones can impede driving ability almost as much as drinking. Do you talk on a cell phone while driving? You betcha.

(Image: by RayRay85 at flickr)