The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Man Who Failed His Driving Test 17 Times

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

We all face failure, but trial comes with a great opportunity for grace. Today, Jeff talks about embracing failure as a way to grow in Christ, instead of becoming discouraged. Snippet from the Show ���The beautiful thing about the Lord is that he never gives up on you.” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show episode 204, the man who failed his driving test 17 times. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavans. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, thanks for joining me. me 17 times? This guy failed his driving test? You've got to be kidding me. We'll talk about that. Hey, I am coming to you deep in the woods of Minnesota. And I love this time of year because we get snowstorms, which we have one today. And it is so windy and blustery outside of this log cabin that the fire

flickers even a little bit. And I don't know. There's something about those days. You know what I'm talking about where you get a cup of tea, you get a good book, preferably the Bible, and you sit by the fireplace with the wind howling outside. I don't know why that is so special for people. I don't know if it's going back to the womb. I don't know what it is, but if you know, go ahead and give me an email, The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. In fact, I'd like to know how you're doing. Send me an email the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com, and we'll stay in touch there. And if you have any questions, if you have any ideas for shows, go ahead. Go ahead. And if you want the show notes, all you got to do is text Jeff Kavans and text it to 33777. If you are listening way in the future

beyond 2021, check to see how you get show notes, because that may change. You never know the way things are changing in social media. 17 times. You know, I remember, I'm going to tell you who that is. Don't worry. I'm going to tell you who it is, and you'll never guess. But I'm going to let you know who it is. I remember when I took my driving test, I was 16 years old.

Man, was I excited? There's something about taking your driving test that is liberating. It's like it puts you on the map. You are mobile. You can go where you want. Your will, it can take you to, you know, all parts of the country and to Dairy Queen, which was a big deal for me when I got my license. And I remember, you know, going down into downtown Chaska, Minnesota, a little quaint town with a typical square in the middle of the town.

And my dad drove me there. And we got out and I went inside and I filled out the apple. and all that type of thing and are already been through driver's ed and i've passed that and back then we had to we had to parallel park and i've heard that some people don't have to do that these days but i did and i remember at the end of the driving test i sat there and the examiner has a clipboard and he's checking off things and he's writing up a couple things and i'm thinking did I, did I, did I, did I? Well, I'll tell you a little bit later what happened. But how did your driving test go? I want to talk about this because the man who failed his driving test

17 times did not fail that driving test because he was dumb at all. And I don't know all the reasons why he failed the driving test, but I do know, I do know that there's a lot of pressure on people when they do that. And I want to encourage you today using this as a launch point that when you make a mistake or you feel like you have failed, the beautiful thing about walking with the Lord is that something that is seemingly failure can actually be something that moves you beyond where you thought you would go. I remember an incident, I'm taking you back to high school quite a bit, aren't I? I remember when I was on the hockey team.

I was the goaltender on the hockey team. And one time we were playing, and the referee put his hand in the air, which I thought meant it's a delayed offside, or a delayed penalty, rather, a delayed penalty. And so in hockey, if there's a delayed penalty, you can skate to the bench and you can put a sixth skater on. And so I thought it was a delayed penalty on the other team and I scrambled over to the bench and suddenly I heard the crowd roaring with applause and I turned around and the other team scored on my empty net. It turns out it was a delayed off sides. Now, I don't expect you to understand all of everything that goes along with hockey, but the bottom line is, man, I blew it

royally. And I remember that coach looking at me and later he took me to the side and he kind of grabbed me by the shoulders, looked at me and said, Kavens, get your head in the game. And that was a real, well, that was hard, but I did learn from it. Maybe you have an experience like that in your past where you did fail at something or you made a mistake and it was embarrassing. It cost the team something, whether that team is a sporting team or your family or your colleagues, whatever, people at work, it's hard, isn't it? You know, Peter went through this. Peter, the great apostle, Peter and Paul, Peter went through this. He was called to be the first prime minister of this new church, the first pope, the vicar, you know, the one who is leading

this church. He's got the keys, right? But he did have a major failure in that he denied the Lord three times. That must have been really hard. That was at Caiaphas' house. We actually go there on our pilgrimages. Father Mike Schmitz and I are leaving for a pilgrimage this coming June, 2021, and you're welcome to go. Just go to my website, jeffcavens.com. We'd love to have you join us. There's still room. But we go to Caiaphas's house where Peter denied the Lord three times. And after that, you know what he did? He basically threw in the towel. He threw in the towel after the, you know, the resurrection or after Jesus was crucified and buried, he rose from the dead. We still see Peter in John 21 going back up to the Sea of Galilee and resuming his fishing career, which means he's given up.

He's going back to the old life. And that's where Jesus meets him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And he says, three times, do you love me? And Peter says, Lord, of course you know, I love you. feed my sheep three times he says it and then at the very end of that discourse that that that narrative rather i love it because jesus looks at peter and he says peter lech acharai hebrew come follow me in other words yeah you blew it three times royally but the call in your life is still there you see god is not one who gives up on us And this is not just a positive thinking message.

This isn't a go-get-em-tiger message. This is the truth. And maybe during COVID-19, you have gone through some really rough times. Maybe you feel like you have failed. Your kids, you know, my goodness, your kids are at home now. And they are being taught by you and your husband. And your sister might come over and teach a class, whatever it might be. And maybe you feel like you really are a fail.

failure. Maybe working from home now is not working for you in some ways. Maybe, you know, maybe you've made some wrong decisions. The beautiful thing about the Lord is that as long as you have breath, there is hope and he doesn't give up on you. And I want you to hear that this week. This is a message of encouragement today. Now and then, unexpected tragedy. Or disappointment does come our way. Jesus said, in this world, you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. This disappointment can leave you with a feeling of wanting to quit, drop out, just plain give up. We may find ourselves saying, that's it. That's it. Now, if you've been listening to me over the last 203 shows, you know that several times I have said,

don't put a period where God put a comma. Don't do it. Don't put a period where God put a comma, in other words, a pause. And if you read the book of Exodus, you know that Moses had several points in his life where he could have put a period and said, hey, put a fork in me.

That's another way of saying a period. Put a fork in me. I'm done. I'm done. But God did not. He did not forsake Moses, and he was with him all through it. All throughout the Bible, there are stories of people like you and me, who face problems that seem to have put life on hold or even stop it.

But God can use these difficulties in our life. And no matter what you have done, no matter how egregious it's been, And the mercy of God and the forgiveness of God is extended to you. I like to talk about hope in the Bible, you know, a lot. And there's such a big difference between the hope that the world expresses, which is more of a hope so, right? You know, do you think it's going to be a sunny day? Well, hope so, you know, hope so.

Think you're going to go to heaven? I hope so. I think you're going to get out of this jam. I sure hope so. It's just kind of a casual, you know, roll the dice. I hope it, I hope I do. I hope it win the lottery, you know. But in the scriptures, in the scriptures, hope never has such uncertainty connected to it. Certainty is inherent in the idea of hope in the Bible. And that's something that that we have to grab a hold of. Hope, Hebrew says it's an anchor for the soul. And if you need an anchor during these times that we're living in, hope is that anchor. Do not give up on hope. The Hebrew word is

Tikva. I'll put it in the show notes, T-I-Q-A-Tikva. And hope in the Bible is different than a hope so. Hope is an expectation of good, and it is oftentimes linked with trust, and yearning. A good definition would be an interest or desire whose fulfillment is cherished. And I'd love what Ecclesiastes 9-4 says, so long as there is life, there is hope. There is hope. As long as there's life. Now, the life of the righteous, that's the people of God, and hopefully you are counted among the people of God, the life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because its point of reference

isn't the stock market. It isn't the political situation. It isn't the situation in social media or anything else. The point of reference when we talk about hope in the Bible is God. It's God, but there is a different. in the kind of hope of Plato, for example, in the scriptures. You might remember Plato, and I'm not talking about a cartoon character or anything like that. I'm talking about the great philosopher.

Plato, what did he say? Well, he speaks of hope that is a projection from oneself concerning the future. In other words, I create my future with my limited brain power and my limited experience and my limited power. And if you do that, well, you just may come up short and you might want to put a period there. But the righteous, the people of God, we have a projection of the future and the reference point is God. It's the heart of our father. It's his plan for our life. Now, Nietzsche, he held that hope was the worst of evils.

give me a break. A royal break. Nietzsche held that hope was the worst of evils. How diametrically opposed to the gospel is that? He held that hope was the worst of evils. Why? Because it prolongs the torment of man. Wow. My friend, the hope that God gives you does not prolong the prolong the torment of man, but it buoys you up and at the same time anchors you. That's the hope that the Bible extends. The hope that the Bible speaks of is good expectations about the future because of what God has done and says he will continue to do. What a difference between the way the world views hope and the way we have the people

of God view hope. Now, what about that guy? 17 times he failed his driving test. After the, maybe you failed after the first time. Did you still have hope? Well, if you went back and you tried to pass your driving test, the second time, it means that between the first and the second, you had hope. What about the sixth time? What about the ninth time? Why don't you think we ought to put a period here? I mean, give it up. This isn't your gift. What about the 12th time? What about the 14th? At what point do you give up? What about the 16th? Oh my gosh. Can you imagine going in on the 16th try or in this guy's situation, the 17th try and saying, I'm back. And all the people behind the counter are, it's him again. It's him again.

Okay. Then they go over, then they write down another slash on the wall of all the times you you've been in because it's turned into a joke, right? Well, hope dwindles in many people's lives during these difficult times. But I got some good news for you. I really do. And I'm going to give that to you right after this. Every one of us is made in the image of God. We are unique, worthy of love, and called to greatness. In this world, though, we can be distracted from that truth. and begin to doubt God's love is real. You see, we live in a world that tells us we are not smart, attractive, thin, or rich enough.

It is easy to focus on the ways we fall short of worldly perfection and forget that we are already made perfect. We are already enough. I'm Danielle Bean, author of You Are Enough, what women of the Bible teach you about your mission and worth. You Are Enough dives into the stories of women in the Bible so that you can fully see God's plan for your life. To order, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon.

Welcome back. I told you I got some good news for you. How many times have you failed a driving test or some other kind of test? aren't test testy you know there's always uh remember in school you know you've got that final test and you're thinking oh i hope i don't fail i hope i don't fail and and failure means a lot in our in our culture today and today people have the ability through social media and other means to literally stamp failure on someone's life someone who is really a good person and and quite successful in many ways, but society now is putting failure on people's lives. And that is why this is so important for us to know the gospel, to know the word of God,

and to know that our hope has its reference point not in the opinion of social media, not in the opinion of the evening news, not in the opinion of what people are doing on Instagram, but it's God. He's the reference point. And hope lies deep in your heart. How do I know that? Well, if you're baptized, you're a Christian, then we know, and the church teaches, that there were three theological virtues that were put into your heart when you were baptized. And they are faith, number one, faith, that is, you can make mental assent to the things of God

and you can entrust yourself to God. He has given you faith at baptism. of faith. You've got to be responsible for how you grow that and how you deal with it, but faith is one of the theological virtues. The second one is, thing, hope, hope. God put hope in your heart at baptism, and the third is charity, faith, hope, and charity. These are theological virtues that reside in your heart, and you can exercise that. So if someone says, I am hopeless, if you were baptized, you're not. That's not true. It's not true at all. You know, when Lazarus, remember that, Mary and Martha's, remember that? Martha, she heard that her brother

Lazarus had died. And in chapter 11 of John's Gospel, Martha said basically, in verse 39, she said, what? She said, period. It's over. My brother is dead. It is dead. It is over. But you know what? As Christians, this is the beautiful thing. One of the beautiful things about being a Christian is that you will live even if you die. Even if you die, it's not a period if you are counted among God's family. And she, what did she say in verse 39 of John 11? Period. He's gone toast. But what did Jesus say? Comma. And what happened? Lazarus rose from the dead. Even the crucifixion of Jesus in Mark's Gospel, chapter 15, the people put a period when,

at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, everyone said, it's over, period. But God had the biggest comma in the history of this world. The story wasn't over, and this is so true. when on the great adventure with Jesus, we encounter time after time that God is the God of second chances and resurrection just when you think it's over and you think you see a period. God reveals an amazing comma. I love it. And you can study any of the people in the Bible, even like Jacob. I mean, Jacob, wow, you know, in Genesis 27 through 37, he flees from Esau.

after deceiving him. He married Leah and Rachel. Laban pursues Jacob. Jacob meets Esau. Dinah, his daughter, is raped by the men of Shechem. Rachel dies. Joseph apparently dies. But, watch, Joseph is still alive. His period has changed to a comma. I love that. I love it. You know, one of my favorite stories, and I am going to tell you, I am. I am. going to tell you, who failed their driving test 17 times. But one of the great dramatic examples of this, and I have spoken about this over the years, but it's just, I don't know, it speaks of tenacity, it speaks of not giving up, and that even though there's apparent failure, you just, you keep going. You keep going. You dust yourself off from the ground, and you get back up. You get back

up. And I'm encouraging you today. Do not give up. Don't give up. God is not done with you and your story's not over and there's no period on this as long as you have breath. But it's the story of Abraham Lincoln. I love this. He lost his job in 1832. He was defeated for the legislature in 1832 as well. He failed in business in 1833. He was elected, yay, to the legislature. legislature in 34, he suffered the loss of his sweetheart who died in 35. He suffered, get this, a nervous breakdown in 36, 1836, your president. Your president had a nervous breakdown. Before he was president. He was, he suffered a nervous breakdown. He was defeated for Speaker of the State Legislature two years later in 38. Five years

later, he was defeated for the nomination for Congress in 43. Three years after that, he was elected to Congress. That's in 46. In 48, he lost his renomination for Congress. In 49, he was rejected for the position of land officer. Give me a break. And then, in 54, he was defeated for the Senate. in 56 he was defeated for the nomination for vice president of the United States in 58 two years later he was defeated for the Senate again in 1860 Abraham Lincoln became the president of the United States hmm isn't that something I love that I love that just remember you know that life isn't good until your first defeat

life is good. Life is wonderful. Life is precious. And going through those times where it seems like we failed, we ran over to the bench and we misunderstood the raised hand of the referee. And you had to ride back on the bus with your team. It's still not over. There's a great hymn by Fred Pratt. I love this, and it's about when our confidence is shaken. I think that's the name of it. And one of the lines in there, and it comes from a Methodist hymnal. My mother-in-law was a Methodist pastor, and so I have a few of her books, and sometimes I'll look through hymnals, and I'll see beautiful, beautiful words. And in this case, it was like a gold mine. Listen to what Fred Pratt said. He said, when our confidence is shaken in beliefs we thought secure, when the spirit in its

sickness seeks but cannot find a cure, God is active in the tensions of a faith, not yet mature. Isn't that beautiful? I love that. I know right now you're driving, you're saying, oh, I want to hear that again. Okay, I'll do it. When our confidence is shaken in beliefs we thought secure, when the spirit in its sickness seeks but cannot find a cure, God is active in the tensions of a faith not yet mature. That's beautiful, isn't it? All right.

Who failed? Their driving test. 17 times. Drum roll, please. You can do the drum roll. in your head. The man who failed his driving test 17 times was none other than C.S. Lewis. And now you know the rest of the story. C.S. Lewis. Can you imagine that? 17 times. His stepson talks about that. Now, I don't have to sit here and tell you how successful this man was.

Maybe he did fail 17 times at his driving test, but that's not what you remember, do you? You know, every time you think of C.S. Well, you might think of it now, but every time you think of CS Lewis, you're not like, hey, that's the guy that failed his driving test 17 times. That's not what he's remembered for. He's remembered for his books, his literary, contribution to the world, his apologetic contribution to Christianity, as he wrote the great divorce, mere Christianity, a grief observed, the screw tape letters, the four loves, till we have faces, the hideous strength, the abolition of man, the voyage of the dawn treader, the problem of pain, surprised by joy, God in the dock, letters to children, letters to Malcolm,

and Drumuligan, the Cruel. Chronicles of Narnia. Wow. At C.S. Lewis, he failed his driving test 17 times, but it didn't define who he was. Where are you at now? Where are you at now? Are you going to let your failures define you? Are you going to keep growing and keep going forward?

Not so much concerned about what people are going to think. In seventh grade, I still wet the bed. I did. You didn't think I was going to talk about that today, but I am. And I thought I'd be a failure in life because of it. I did. But hey, I'm talking to you. I believe, and this is a beautiful, beautiful thought, C.S. Lewis, I believe, he says,

I believe in Christianity, as I believe that the sun has raised. risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else. Isn't that beautiful? Hey, I want to remind you again, if you want to go to Israel with Father Mike and myself in June, get on board, go to my website, jeffcavens.com, and do, please go to Apple. Go to the website that is housing this podcast and give it a like if you can. You can give it. You can give it. it a comment, share it with friends, be a part of raising podcast to a level that all the search engines will get a hold of because I truly believe we have the Word of God, we have the gospel, the good news that people are searching for, help them find stuff like this. Also, Father

Josh Johnson, Father Mike Schmidt has another podcast. Let people know about it. My friend, I want I pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I love you, and I thank you, oh, God, that you are not through with us. I thank you, Lord, that you have a whole infinite pocket of commas, a whole pocket of commas for us. Oh, Lord, thank you. I thank you for your mercy and your kindness. I thank you, Lord, for your companionship. I thank you for your lordship, and I give you Lord glory and praise today and just take a moment to worship you. You are the creator of the world. You have a plan that is so beautiful and so perfect in your plan. And you reveal to us your heart in the scriptures. Jesus, we love you. We love you. And it's in your

name that we pray. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Continue to pray for me, my friend, I'll pray for you. And please know, I love you. I really do. I love you. And I'd love to hear from you. The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Let's go on this journey together. God bless.