Someone once poetically described the chaotic Beijing traffic as streams of water flowing together, filling in every gap. Well if Beijing has flowing streams, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has gushing waterfalls. There are traffic laws, but no one really follows them or enforces them. There are well over 4 million motorbikes registered in Ho Chi Minh and at rush hour it seems like just about all of them are on the roads. According to a Vietnamese news article approximately 70% of deaths in the city are caused by motorbikes. (Don’t tell my mom.)
But boys will be boys! The three men of Team Summit (and our squad leader, Logan) rented motorbikes for a few days. They all have varying levels of experience on two-wheeled motorized vehicles, but nothing like the experience they’d get in Ho Chi Minh City. The three of us girls hopped on back and entrusted our lives into their hands.
I sat quietly on the backseat, occasionally giving out some praise like “Good job avoiding that gigantic pothole!” or “Way to swerve around the bicycle that crossed directly in front of us!” while keeping a protective gaze on everything happening around us, as if I could actually do anything to help us. My only job was to keep still and not throw off the balance and every so often wave a hand as a turn signal.
It’s hard to enjoy the ride when your mind is intensely focused on every pothole, speed bump, pedestrian, cyclist, taxi and the thousands of other motorbikes around you. By doing this I gave myself a false sense of control and forgot that I wasn’t actually driving. But when I finally relaxed and stopped focusing on all the potential threats that I had no control over, I was free to look around and enjoy the ride…and give my poor white knuckles a break.
I do this with God a lot too. While I may get on board with Him and follow His lead, I still have this tendency to keep an anxious eye on all the little things that could go wrong. I may be following, but am I actually trusting or am I still trying to maintain a false sense of control? The Bible tells us in Luke 12:25-26: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”
Jesus knows how to drive this crazy motorbike of a life. I don’t. I need to hop on back, stop squirming and enjoy the ride. Our team grew closer in those three days because we had to trust each other if we wanted to get anywhere. With trust comes freedom.
Check out this video of our month in Vietnam featuring footage of our motorbike rides. While we were in Ho Chi Minh City we partnered with an international church and served by painting a women’s home, teaching at an orphanage, setting up websites, reading with children and whatever else we could do to fill needs.
This video features music from my beautiful and wonderfully talented friend, Kim Singer. Check out more of her music on iTunes or Spotify.
