This week I got a letter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts letting me know that it was time to renew my drivers license. I don't know how often one has to do that, but I do know it's the third time in the last 10 years. I don't even know if they are going to test me, other than my eyesight, and they only do that because many/most folks don't get their eyes check regularly any other way!

I sure wouldn't be opposed to a test, though. I see other drivers do things here that frighten me often enough, and I wonder if they know the rules. I'm not real worried about if you can parallel park within 12 inches of the curb, but when I see people who don't seem to understand what a red light means I worry a little. Would my own answers to a test be the same as they were when I was 17 and first getting that permit? Maybe, I know that when Dave got his we went over some of the questions and I was surprised at some of the answers. Granted some states have different laws, such as the very specific mountain laws of Colorado that would be meaningless here, but I reckon most states are pretty much the same for everyone. But everyone, it seems, really learn all the laws, get the license, then lets all that slowly slip out of their minds until they have just the basics they need to "get along" with other drivers.

It always seems like the state is more interested in my money, anyway, than they are in what I know about driving once I've got that license. As I understand it, in some places people who haven't owned a car in years (and some who are dead!) renew their licenses because it's done via the internet or through the mail. I think I prefer having to come in, in person, because I do think there has to be at least an eye exam, so every driver has a sporting chance if nothing else to avoid an accident! I don't even mind waiting in line or going to an inconvenient place to renew, not when it means at least some hope of better drivers.

I reckon if we mishandle Christianity it could be a lot like that. We may learn enough to become a Christian, and then in our zeal of being a new convert we study the word and learn a lot of what God wants. Then, we kind of slow down. If we don't teach, and many do not, it's hard to keep all we are commanded to do in the forefront of our minds. If we don't study it, and some think they don't need to because they read it once and that's enough, then it slips through our mental fingers perhaps at a slow rate but slips though none the less. After time, folks drift away or invent new laws and new ways of thinking. They forget the mercy and love that God showed them, and the gratitude to the sacrifice of Jesus. Sometimes, like Pharisees, they create traditions that take the place of real laws of God. Many focus more on just "getting along" with others rather than simply doing what God wants of us.

In our study of Revelation, we see several churches accused of being very earnest but having forgotten their first fruits. The scripture warns them, and those of us who read it, by declaring "he that has an ear let him hear!" Being a child of God doesn't give us a license to live any which way we want - a license misused will be revoked! Frankly, you can't afford that violation.

Randy