I was waiting at a red light at a busy intersection when something odd caught my eye.
Two clunky-looking, modified Jaguar sedans had pulled up and stopped next to me, but when I glanced over, there wasn’t a driver in sight. A moment later, two more driverless Jaguars rolled smoothly through the intersection ahead of us, making a perfectly orchestrated, empty parade of four. No steering hands, no feet on the pedals — just cars gliding along, obeying every signal.
Around Phoenix, a scene like this is pretty ordinary now. But imagine a driverless car cruising along U.S. 160 through Pagosa Springs. There’d be gasps, rubbernecking and maybe a photo or two to confirm that the car had moved, like a phantom, entirely on its own. The truth is, of course, these cars aren’t truly alone. Somewhere out there, a system is guiding them — eyes never distracted, a mind never weary.
For a moment, I pictured someone muttering in disbelief, “This can’t be. If I don’t see a driver, there isn’t one.” And yet, there they were, keeping pace with traffic, responding precisely to every signal and obstacle. Proponents of autonomous driving say this is exactly what we need to make the roads safer. Unlike human drivers, these cars don’t drift into daydreams, miss a brake light or respond a split second too late. They’re always alert, tuned in to the road with sensors and radars that never blink. Every day, dozens of these autonomous cars drive through my neighborhood. And with all their precision and instant reactions, I feel a strange sense of ease in sharing the road with them.
It’s funny, though. Seeing is believing for most of us. There’s no driver, yet we trust there’s a guiding presence somewhere. And yet, when it comes to life’s biggest questions, that certainty often fades.
“I’ve never seen God,” some say. “How could I believe in something I can’t see?”
But, as scripture reminds us, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
Nature’s intricate beauty and vast complexity speak to a hand at work, but it’s easy to overlook the Designer and dismiss the design.
My friend David, after struggling in the grip of alcoholism for years, turned his life over to the God of deliverance and now for a year has been living a healthy life of sobriety. What caused the change?
It’s like those classic tales of Sherlock Holmes, who would examine a scene and draw out the truth from the smallest clues. His friend Watson often looked on in bewilderment as Holmes pieced together mysteries from fragments of evidence, reaching conclusions Watson couldn’t see. We might observe the same world, but sometimes fail to see what’s right before us.
Even if the driver is out of sight, the car is guided. And even when we can’t see the cause, the effect is there, whispering of something greater.
This column may include both fiction and nonfiction, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of The SUN. Submissions can be sent to editor@pagosasun.com.
