Kansas Drug Rehabs: Life and Dirty Windshields

I am a full time parish pastor in McCook, Nebraska and a part time Chaplain at Norton, Kansas and I live in a another town altogether (Oberlin, KS). Needless to say I am on the road a lot. I have much windshield time. When I have patients assigned to me, I have been known to drive to Norton and see my patients, drive up to McCook for drug addiction treatment meetings and visits and then back home all in one long day–and 130 miles later.

In my 17-years of ministry, I’ve come to appreciate and have enjoyed the use of illustrations to communicate in sermons, as well as working with patients on their step work. Driving on the road a lot it is inevitable that “stuff happens” on the windshield. The more miles driven, or the longer one is on the road of life, the more “stuff happens” on your windshield. Now, the more bugs and bird stuff that splatter on the windshield I equate with the stuff that happens in life that brings about regret, shame and guilt. Fortunately, most cars are equipped with fluid that can be easily accessed by the flip of a switch and the wiper blades can wipe clean your windshield as you motor on. Imagine if you never utilized that fluid and wiper blade and the “stuff ” splattered on your windshield began to accumulate until it became difficult to see straight at all! If we played out this illustration, we would understand eventually we would have to do something about the “stuff ” on the windshield or we would put ourselves in a serious risk of wrecking our “road of life” vehicle.

When patients come to treatment they have been though rough times. Their powerlessness and unmanageable lives have brought them to the bottom. Reaching out for help, they finally seek drug addiction treatment. They learn they are powerless, they cannot, but God can, and begin to allow God to lead them in a new journey in life called recovery. The next step, is the beginning of a series of steps that fit together in a spiritual program. It has everything to do with a spiritual remedy for regrets, guilt, and shame, the “stuff ” that wants to rob us of clear sight on the road of life. The spiritual remedy is FORGIVENESS. There is freedom in receiving the forgiveness we need for those relapse triggers, regret, guilt and shame that want to hold us back and keep us in the life of drug addiction.

It is good to know this switch is available to flip on the fluid and wiper blade for the road of life in recovery. Making “searching and fearless moral inventory of our lives” prepares us to turn over those obstacles that would hold us back from freedom of a quality life, a clean windshield on the road of life. It is important to remember while sharing this inventory, the information is held in strict confidence. Sharing this with someone trained in understanding the significance of forgiveness, a chaplain or pastor, is important and preferable. Often times when “we admit to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs” a great sense of relief washes over us. When we remove the “stuff ” from our windshields, where we are going in life can become clearer.

I believe God is a perfect loving parent, who gives you life and loves you and hopes you will love in return. You have freedom of choice. God will not force you to love. Freedom of choice is honored. You can hold on to your guilt if you want to, of course who would want to know what freedom and relief come from letting go of guilt, yet sometimes we kick ourselves needlessly. The spiritual challenge is for you to get yourself “entirely ready” so God can remove the guilt. God will remove it if you ask. The wonderful blessings are deep for all who work these steps. Forgiveness can be a choice that is selected, if we set in motion the wiper blades, dig deep and write out our inventories and share and give it all away. Freedom from guilt and shame are possible when we are truly working these steps. You will get as much out of them as you put into them. God bless you in this endeavor.

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