My father took my brother Steve and me out to the edge of town to teach us how to drive. Even though I was only 14 years old my father decided to take me too so I could learn along with my older brother.
Our father used his Volkswagen Beetle to teach us how to drive. It had a stick shift on the floor. It also had an extra pedal on the floor board next to the brake pedal. This second pedal was called the clutch. You had to push the clutch pedal down to the floor to disengage the engine so you could shift gears.
Today most cars have an automatic transmission and the engine changes gears automatically. A stick shift required the driver to use the clutch pedal and the gear shift stick to change gears and increase the speed of the car.
Our dad selected a remote dirt road on the edge of Phoenix to be our training ground. There were no other cars in sight. He got out of the driver’s seat and moved to the passenger seat so my brother and I could take turns sitting in the driver’s seat.
Steve was older so he went first. Our father tried to explain how to depress the clutch, shift the car into first gear, then slowly release the clutch pedal and depress the gas pedal to get the car moving. It involved a lot of coordination. Initially our efforts weren’t very good. The car stuttered and stalled many times as we learned to coordinate the clutch and gas pedal. But we both got better the more we practiced.
Guess who got to teach our four teenagers when they were old enough to drive. I was once the student. Now I became the teacher. I selected the largest empty parking lot I could find on Saturday morning to teach each of our kids to drive. We had an automatic transmission so it was easier for them to learn. Later they learned to drive with a stick shift too. I wonder who will get to teach their children how to drive.
There is a verse in the Bible where the Apostle Paul encourages his young disciple Timothy to teach others the things Paul had taught him (Second Timothy 2:2). Every generation has the privilege and responsibility to teach the next one. Let me encourage you to share your skills and experiences with younger people. Teach them so that they can teach others. You will be glad you did and they will too!
For more stories by Mark Hopper you can purchase his book Let Me Encourage You with 365 stories and articles – one for every day of the year. The regular price is $20 but the Pre-Christmas Sale price is $30 for two plus $5 postage! Buy one for yourself and one to give as a gift to a friend. Contact the author at markh@efreedb.org. You will be glad you did!
Let Me Encourage You by Mark Hopper 