How many gears should a transmission have? I learned to drive with “three on the tree”, a steering column mounted contraption that featured long throws. Pull down and toward you for first, fly up and forward for second, and straight down for third. Reverse, logically was back and up. Pretty simple but inelegant.

“Four on the floor” was a big improvement; shorter throws and better performance, while the five speed manual is nearly perfect. I’ve driven some six speed manuals, but they make downshifting a little hairy. And downshifting is an art.

Any fool can learn to upshift. You move through the gears in order, using high gear only when you’ve reached speed. Quick shifts on the city streets, and long, power-producing windups on the freeway entrance ramp. But sometimes you have to (or should) downshift. Coming off the freeway at eighty miles per hours (mph), you clutch, tap the gas pedal and pull smoothly into fourth gear to help get down to the thirty mph ramp speed. When making turns, you skip a gear, shifting from fifth to third, or fourth to second so you can accelerate back up to speed without lugging the motor. There is nothing more satisfying in driving than to execute a smooth downshift that doesn’t jar or jolt the passengers in the car. A close second place goes to the downshift to pass, fifth to fourth, or in the case a really slow car in front of you, fifth to third; clutch, tap, and move swiftly by the obstacle.

Winding roads are a drivers’ dream, especially when traveling in the mountains. Clutch, brake, gas pedal; move the stick. Up, down, maintain speed and control, don’t jerk, be smooth. There is a rewarding sense of control when you drive with the gearshift lever in your hand while operating the three pedals on the floor.

Right now, moving into the year 2022, I feel like I’m approaching a sharp, blind curve and I’ve no idea what gear to select. Should I pull down into second, accelerate out of the curve to find a smooth, straight road ahead just begging me to wind it up in all the remaining gears? Or will the road plunge downward with nothing but twisty turns. Or perhaps there will be a stop sign, and I’ll have to shift to neutral, left foot poised over the clutch looking left and right to see if it’s safe. 

I don’t know what’s ahead in 2022, but I know the One who does know. So whether I get to zoom down the highway or idle in traffic or come to a complete stop, I’m confident that I’ll finish my journey exactly according to the plan; not mine, His.

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Psalms 139:14-16 (ESV)