I took our van to the shop to have the tires rotated and the alignment checked. Tested and repaired, the van was back on the road. But, unfortunately, a few weeks went by, and the van was out of alignment again.

After incorrectly thinking and foolishly asking if she had run into a curb or a giant squirrel, I took it back to the same shop. They probably thought the same thing about the squirrel, then gladly took my money and repaired the van.

After a few weeks later, when I drove the van, I discovered it was out of alignment again. Unfortunately, because I suffer from insert-foot-in-mouth disease, my wife did not tell me she suspected something was wrong. So I went to a different shop. They diagnosed that the van would not stay in alignment because the piece that holds the wheel on the car was broken.

I was furious, scared and relieved all at the exact moment. Furious because the other shop did not see the issue. I was scared that something horrible could have happened to my family. My wife and my children were driving around in a van where the wheel could have just taken off on its own at any point in time. But I was relieved that this shop found the problem and was able to repair it. The van was repaired and safely moving down the street with all the wheels moving in the same direction.

I thought about this van when preparing for an upcoming sermon. Paul, writing to a church in the ancient city of Corinth, addresses them as, "the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together..." [Emphasis added.] In his three-part introduction, he reminds them whose they are, what is happening to them and who they should be.

Part of the reason the church was plagued with issues was that who they were and how they were living was not aligning with whom they belonged. Faith that makes a difference in everyday life is aligned under God. His rule, in which He desires the best for you, defines who you are and demands how you live. Aligning yourself under him leads to the life you have been looking for. But, when you are out of alignment, as you have probably already experienced, the wheels will fall off.