Keys to the Kingdom

By Stacy LaMorte

We had an important new milestone in our home this week: our oldest child got her driver’s license. This is an exciting, yet understandably unsettling time. She went through a driver’s education program where the new drivers (and their parents) were taught the gravity of what they were about to undertake.

At school, they attended the “Sudden Impact” program where they visited a local hospital and saw – with their own eyes – patients who have been impacted by drinking or drugs and driving.  This promulgated a lot of discussion in our house.

The biggest thing that we talked about was the amount of power and responsibility that comes along with driving.

Just as when Jesus said to Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” our daughter now understands that the decisions she makes while driving do not only affect her, but our whole family and other families as well.

This is where our faith comes in.

My husband and I have done all that we can do with countless hours in the car with her, observing her driving, giving tips and pointers (and trying not to wear out the rugs of the car on the passenger side, stepping on a brake pedal that is not there!).

Just as Jesus trusted Peter to make the right choices for his bride the Church, we trust and have faith in our daughter to make the right choices on the road.