I Broke the Law … and Got Away with It

Crook. Lawbreaker. Criminal. Bring on Five-O. Take me to the pokey. Get Barney Fife to run me down.

I didn’t mean to. It just happened. I hadn’t had my morning caffeine. And to be totally upfront … I hated myself. I even gave a self-induced Dinozzo (slapped myself Gibb’s style). I wanted a do-over.

What was so abominable? I passed a school bus with its lights blinking. EGAD. A few details … It wasn’t from behind, I just passed through a divided highway into a non-divided highway with a turn lane in the middle (5 total lanes), I caught it just before the infraction and quickly pondered a slamming of the brakes – but didn’t. These aren’t good excuses but they are excuses.

Here’s a twist, I was being extra cautious. I had just passed a police car that had pulled over a truck just under a mile behind me, so I watched my speed, didn’t play with the phone, nor was I applying any makeup while driving (okay, I don’t do that anyway).

I got away with it. And I hate that I felt a bit relieved that I got away with it. But I hated it more that I did it in the first place.

And then … I heard a little voice in my head … that voice I so love and am so afraid of at the same time. Not the same voice when I talk to myself, that guy is mostly crazy. But I heard the voice of my God that loves me and cares for me and wants the best for me.

He reminded me what we talked about in worship yesterday, about how He blesses the one who mourns over sin. And He wasn’t saying how great it was that I realize how wrong it was passing that yellow carrier of young minds headed to be educated.

He reminded me of how often I do stuff, think stuff, say stuff, have attitudes that I know are wrong … and I just don’t give it a second thought. This isn’t just me, it may be you this very day. But God wants us to see sin the way He sees it. He wants us to realize that He, the One who created us, knows what is best for us. And when He shows us how we are to live, He knows what He is talking about. He wants us to be truly broken over anything we do that falls short of what He wants … and He wants the best. We mourn that we messed up, that we take away from God’s glory, and that we didn’t give Him our very best.

So, I am taking the infraction from this morning and applying it to the way I see every thing I do. I often need an object lesson for God to get across the lesson I read in (or even preached from) the Word. Today, that lesson came from a school bus.

What will it take for you to get it?

Enjoy your day … and pay attention to that voice in your head.

Todd

Drive careful, School is back in session!