The Dashboard Lights
Are you a meatloaf fan? No, not the American comfort food. But rather, the singer known as Meat Loaf. One of his classic cult songs is an eight-and-a-half minute opus about teenage sexual angst. You likely know the song, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”
The song begins by introducing the listeners to a teenage couple on a date, in a parked car, contemplating paradise by “going to go all the way tonight.” What follows is Phil Rizzuto, the New York Yankees long-time announcer, excitedly describing a baseball player making his way around the bases. Then, just as the player rounds third base and heads for home, the song shifts from baseball back to the teens in the car. At this point the girl refuses to let her date “score” without first taking her hand in marriage. In frustration, the boy agrees, only to later regret it – “I started swearing to my God on my mother’s grave that I would love you to the end of time. Now I’m praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive. ‘Cause if I’ve gotta spend another minute with you I don’t think that I could really survive.”
In this song, the car’s dashboard lights likely provided a dim lustful glow in the car. But, in real life, our vehicle’s dashboard is much more than mood lighting. And while the song also claims that there is paradise by those dashboard lights, that is not always the case. The lights flashing on the dashboard could be indicating something is amiss. In addition to performance information (speed, engine temperature, fuel level, RPMs, odometer, etc.), a vehicle’s dashboard also displays warning lights that alert us to potential problems with the vehicle’s various systems.
Now let me make it personal. Are any warning lights flashing on your dashboard? I am referring not to your vehicle’s dashboard, but rather, to the lights that inform you when you need servicing. It could be something physical. Emotional. Relational. Financial. Spiritual. Whatever it is, there are often warning signs that go ignored. Usually when we ignore the flashing lights, what could have simply been a tune-up ends up requiring a major overhaul.
Today do you need a tune-up before a major overhaul is needed? If you say yes, and there is no harm, no foul, in saying yes, right now ask God to lift your hood and get to work. It is through God’s grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can be renewed in our minds and transformed into the image of Christ: “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect” (Romans 12:2).
Even if the odometer does not reflect high mileage does your body have more rust than paint? Is your engine making a weird noise? Do your tires have very little tread left Do your brakes squeak? Is one headlight burned out, making it hard to see and be seen on foggy nights? Basically, what I am asking – are you tired, your body feeling frail, your soul feeling empty, your nerves on edge, your future uncertain? If you are in need of strength and endurance, guidance and direction, peace and calm, click your heels three times and repeatedly say: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). Also, check out Isaiah 40:28-31.
There can be genuine and lasting paradise by the dashboard lights if we don’t ignore what those warning lights are telling us!
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