I was driving down Sunset Boulevard one night, it was late, after a great night of motivating people with my good friend Dyan Cannon at the Hollywood Bible Study. That night, something interesting happened on one of the world’s most familiar streets.
One traffic light after another kept coming up green. That was definitely unusual on a street that is usually busy with tourism. I passed the Comedy Store, House of Blues, the Viper Room, and even the Chateau Marmont, all on green lights. I remember that I began to smile as though I was getting away with something.
So many times in life, we face more red lights than we do green lights.
We all know that green means go. And red means stop. When you’re a child, it seems that the world is one green light of momentum and a whole lot of fun. All you do is play, watch cartoons, and make new friends. The worst thing that happens in your green light world is your brother or sister may steal your toy. But with some good crying you’ll usually get your toy back and get to see your sibling punished. Which takes it back to green light.
The more green lights you go through in your childhood, the more your expectation is built on believing that life can be somewhat of a breeze. But soon after the thought of green is almost engrained in you, the red lights can start flashing. Discipline, rejection, and misunderstandings can all feel like red lights.
As you get older, it sometimes seems like there are more red lights than there are green lights. You can find yourself looking for the STOP instead of the GO. Your life can feel like rush hour traffic in a very busy city. You long for the days of childhood when you woke up to a giant green light.
It is true that life is sometimes stop and go. But it is important for us, even as adults, to GO unless you are asked to STOP.
There are three main reasons in Scripture that God asks us to stop.
- To catch your breath. Sometimes God puts on the red light, but it’s not negative at all. He’s basically saying, ‘Head to the holy ground, because you’ve been too long on the battle ground.’
- For direction. Sometimes when you’re driving, you need to pull over, turn on your navigation system, and make sure you’re headed in the right direction. But with time, the green light will come on again.
- Wrong choices can put you by a red light. This can be a time of forgiveness and reconciliation, but someday, there will be a green light again.
Ecclesiastes 3.1 says there is a time and a season for everything. Later in the chapter it says, ‘a time to be silent and a time to speak.’ In other words, there is a season for the hush, the quiet, the whisper, the wait. But there is also a season for the go.
Many people have sat back and watched others live in their season of the go. Whether it be celebrities like Oprah, Ryan Seacrest, or even Joel Osteen, it’s easy to sit around and admire.
But what if this is your season for acceleration?
Just like that late night, driving through Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, seeing green light, green light, green light—maybe this is your green light season.
So proceed, accelerate, smile and don’t feel guilty. Surely, you and God know that you have waited in front of many red lights in your life. Listen for the click, because the light has changed from red to green.
Written by Rockwell Thorpe
Rockwell Thorpe works for Tim Storey
I am ecstatic, that in looking at the RSVPs we’ve received, we have a full house. I am still getting calls from people who are asking me to sneak them in as well. Two back to back sessions in the historic East West Studios on Sunset Boulevard filled to capacity with people hungry to live a better life…people who want more out of their everyday.
