Most of us are familiar with driving a car. After a few years of driving, it becomes so familiar to us that it's borderline automatic. Our present comfort with the process is a far cry from the nervousness and trepidation that we felt when we first 'got behind the wheel'. Most of us remember the unease of having the driving instructor sitting in the passenger seat, ready to critique our every move and decision.

Those driving instructors have many different methods of teaching people to drive, and they can be quite varied in their approach. My driving instructor was a former truck driver who insisted that all his classes learn to drive via the 'IPDE' method. He did a very good job of drilling the IPDE method into us-- to the point that I've never forgotten how the method works.

IPDE stands for 'Identify potential hazards, Predict what can go wrong, Decide what you will do, and Execute your plan'. Oftentimes, you won't use every step in the process-- because if you get to the 'Execute' stage of the method, then you know something has gone really wrong! It's a good plan for driving, however, and keeps people safe as they drive by teaching them to always be ready for things to go wrong.

The IPDE method is a great driving tool, and it can do more than help us navigate the highways. It can also help us navigate the road of life if we tweak it slightly to fit our day to day life. Today we will look at the first of four steps that show us how:

First, we “Identify” areas of our life in which we are weak. We do this through a study of God's Word and daily prayer time with God. As we develop in our relationship with God, God will reveal sins in our life that need to be removed and good things that we need to be doing.

Tomorrow we will look at the final three steps in the “Spiritual IPDE” method.