Jesus on the Centerline
- Jani James
- Jun 12
- 2 min read

There’s a thing I say when I face something challenging or scary: “Jesus on the center-line”. Often, I’m behind the wheel of my car, but it can happen anywhere. This started on a nerve-wracking drive in northern California in 2022. Kent’s parents lived in the shadow of 5,000 foot Mt. Diablo in the east San Francisco Bay area. On one visit home, we took Kent’s dad on an outing to the top of Mount Diablo. You can see for a hundred miles in every direction.
We had done it before, but this time, were dismayed to find the road significantly deteriorated. Large cracks ran through it. No shoulder. No guard rails. That helpful white line along the right edge of the road, when it was even there, was exactly on the edge of the cliff. In some places, the two-lane road had shrunk to the size of one lane because the asphalt had crumbled away.
No one said a word the whole way up except Kent commented, “It’s good Jani doesn’t get scared.” My heart rate was elevated. The name of Jesus filled my mind, as I held my focus to the center of the roadway and away from the jaw-dropping vistas to my right. It seemed as if Jesus was hovering over the center-line about 20 feet in front of the car, facing me and moving backward as I moved forward. Jesus on the center-line got me through.
I remembered the Mt. Diablo drive on a 2024 family camping trip to La Wis Wis, a campground just outside Mount Rainier National Park in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The most direct way there crossed over Cayuse Pass on SR 123 with its spectacular drop-offs on the western side. Although I usually hog the driving, my hamstring was bugging me, so I gave up the wheel to Kent for the last bit.
From the passenger side of the car, I could look deep into the endless canyon. At one point I observed that Kent’s right hand was on the wheel at the 6 o’clock position and his left hand wasn’t on the wheel at all! “Uh, two hands on the wheel is a good idea, right?” He replied, “Is that a complaint?” Although I was not the driver, I invoked Jesus on the center-line. Kent got us to La Wis Wis where we gratefully made camp and ate our canned chicken soup and green beans.
The next day, we drove (I drove) back over SR123, mostly on the inside, hugging the cliff wall, and on up to Sunrise at 6400 feet. The road to Sunrise also features stupendous views and incredible drop-offs. I asked Kent, “Are you happy when I keep two hands on the wheel?” He said, “I’m happy when you keep four wheels on the road.” Point. Jesus on the center-line kept me focused and relatively calm there and back again.
Now the metaphor leaps to mind whenever I drive the car, particularly on the way to medical appointments. I ask Jesus, “Be on the centerline. Don’t let me fall off the cliff!”
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