A Marvelous Prospect

A couple of weeks ago I talked about how we as Christians can be heard amongst the cacaphony of voices that make up our “multi-cultural” society. (See A Voice Crying in the Wilderness.) Well, I had the opportunity to witness recently – and failed miserably.

I was headed out on an errand. I was probably running a little late, though maybe not, as my wife tells me I’ve gotten better about that as I’ve gotten older. I live on the edge of the country near Raleigh – country roads, not city streets. I can race along the first couple of miles unimpeded before I hit US64. But the city is encroaching, and just before that intersection there’s a new back entrance to a major shopping area. I can’t tell you the riffraff that this new road has introduced to my serene lifestyle.

One of my pet peeves in life is the gross inconsideration of our society that’s reflected in the me-me-me attitude of our interpretation of right-turn-on-red-after-stopping rules. It’s sorta fun to watch what some folks consider “stopping.” I’d like to have a dime for every time someone has pulled out, turning right on red directly in front of on-coming traffic – ME! Why do they force ME to brake, when they could wait 3 seconds for me to pass. (Remember, this is sorta the country, and there’s nobody behind me for 1/2 mile.) I tend to not slow down, just letting my natural speed take me right up on the bumper of the flagrantly inconsiderate car and driver that’s now in front of me. My wife says I speed up purposefully. I declare that I do not!

Back to my story. On this day, a local yahoo does his thing, pulling out in front of me from the entrance to the shopping mall. I do my thing, coasting rapidly up on his tail. I catch his eye in his rear-view mirror and give him my most disgusted shoulder shrug. He replies with a nice hand-wave (several fingers, not just one, actually). About 100 yards beyond this intersection is the traffic signal at US64. The light is red. He’s turning right, I’m going left. There’s no other traffic, so we’re now side-by-side. I notice his window is down, so I lower mine to have a little chat with this fellow. I can’t tell you how many tatoos he had.

Well, a brief conversation ensued. I didn’t use any cuss words. Actually I have no idea what I said, nor could I really hear what he had to say, except that he pointed and uttered one word that I did hear all too clearly. “CROSS.”

I looked, and realized that, yes indeed, there it was, swinging from the rear-view mirror, Grandma Kay’s beautiful brass/mosaic cross. Sigh. So much for my witness that day. So much for being salt and light to a lost and dying world.

Thank you, Lord, for your love for me, and for this very gentle reminder of who you are, and who you desire me to be!

1. Melanie says:

   May 10, 2009 at 8:44 AM

   John-
   I took the cross off of my rear view mirror for this exact reason… (I know… it’s horrible!!)
   thank you for reminding me that 1- I should put it back up 2-I am the ‘salt’ of the earth and 3-I should start behaving that way!