Priscilla Shirer is using her own traffic mishap as a way to teach people about the importance of remaining focused.

Shirer, the daughter of mega-church Pastor Tony Evans who serves as the head of Going Beyond Ministries, shared a recent transparent blog about being in a proverbial autopilot state.

While some mundane tasks like driving don’t always require the full extent of people’s brain power, Shirer thought twice about that after a recent experience on the road.

In her blog post titled “Autopilot,” the evangelist, actress and author of the film and book War Room revealed that one day she was driving while her mind was not fully focused. This resulted in her riding into the high-occupancy vehicle lane.

“I usually find myself in this state of consciousness when I’m on a route that I take regularly. Like everyday,” she revealed. “I snap back to clear thought and realize that I can’t remember much about the ride itself…That’s how I ended up in the HOV lane one bright Saturday afternoon as I was headed back home to the southern suburbs of downtown Dallas.”

While Shirer was able to bypass much of the traffic that other drivers fell victim to, she also noticed that her lack of focused resulted in her being in error.

“The problem was that there wasn’t another soul in the car with me. It was just me – alone in a lane reserved for carpools,” the Bible teacher wrote last week. “That’s what happens when you are on autopilot – you end up going down roads you never intended to.”

Shirer saw a police officer and knew that she had few options and had potentially placed herself in a precarious situation.

“Speeding past the police officer, all nonchalant and blasé about the whole ordeal, could work. It’d be risky but I wondered if maybe he’d had a busy day and might be too tired to notice me,” she recalled of her thoughts. “My heart picked up pace as I considered gunning the gas pedal and making a run for it but the dreaded thought of seeing those bright twirling lights in my rearview mirror won over my mental debate.”

Instead of making a run for it, Shirer decided to turn herself in. She pulled off the side of the road behind the police officer and admitted her mistakes.

The officer was graceful in his response towards Shirer, and let her off easy with some advice to get off of the expressway as soon as she could.

Shirer took his advice and didn’t suffer any dire consequences by being on autopilot that day, but she did learn a valuable lesson which she decided to share with the world.

“See, there are times when we know good and well what we are getting ourselves into – like that time we went on that date, withheld the whole truth or harbored a resentment that we should have released. We knew what the end result of that misguided action would be,” she said. “But, sometimes – many times – autopilot is to blame. We were carelessly engaging in the tasks of everyday life, disengaged emotionally or mentally.”

She drove the point home by speaking about the consequences of making decisions while on autopilot.

“Then, one day, we snap back to attention and realize that we are horribly off course. Riding in a lane (relationally, emotionally, behaviorally) that is not for us,” Shirer wrote. “We are on a collision course with consequences that are going to cost us dearly.”

Instead of passing judgement, Shirer assured people that God cares about them even when they do not make the best decisions.

“..When you were on autopilot, He was still fully engaged in your story,” she said. “He loves you too much to let you stay here, like this. He’s got your best interest in mind and wants you to get to the destination He has planned for your life safely.”

 

(Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images)