This week I chose to focus on the spiritual discipline of community. Loving one another, serving one another, praying for one another and forgiving one another were some of the things that I was to work on. A few weeks ago, a small group of friends and myself had committed to praying for one another. That was a good place for me to start. I had already been working on that and saw that since a few weeks ago when we had made that commitment to each other I had been praying for others more. Keeping that as a habit is something that I intend to do and hope that they and God keep me accountable for. Loving one another is a struggle for me. There are people who are easy to love. There are relationships that I enjoy investing time into. But there are people who are very difficult for me to love. It isn't always easy to show them Christ's love when they may be difficult to relate to, not very kind or some other excuse that I give myself to get out of showing them love. But that isn't the point at all. Those are the people that I need to show love most. I can be very selective in my relationships. Sometimes it never crosses my mind that I am leaving someone out, ignoring someone or completely blowing someone off. I act as if they do not deserve my time. After some of the things that I have done, I can see that I do not deserve their time! Part of loving one another for me has been opening myself to others.
I also learned about community from the other end of things this week. I experienced grace and forgiveness from a complete stranger. Monday morning I was running a little late for my 7:30am class. I made it out to the car, started it up and then realized that I had left something else inside that I needed for the day. So I bolted out of the car, frantically unlocked the door and sprinted back and went on my way. I was going with the flow of traffic when I looked back and see those dreaded lights. How did the cop choose me? I was going the same speed as the cars surrounding me. I stopped the car and waited for the coming doom. I handed over my license and registration as he told me that I had been speeding. My response wasn't much. I simply said that yes I realize that I was speeding, I am running late for my exam and wasn't paying attention, which isn't an excuse and I take full responsibility. He returned to his car, and came back with a ticket for me. It wasn't a good start to my day. Later that day I looked up how much this was going to cost me, $130 bucks! After my last class I headed straight to the court house to pay my ticket. I figured that I should pay it now or I would forget after I went home for Thanksgiving weekend. The clerk then informed me that I wouldn't be able to pay my ticket for a few days because the tickets are not in the system yet on the day that they are given out. I was a little bit annoyed. I was doing the responsible thing by going to pay my ticket and they wouldn't let me pay it! That meant I would have to go back on another day and I had just wasted a half hour. Later on that day my phone started ringing and the number was unfamiliar. I hesitated to answer it, but I did anyways. I was alarmed when he introduced himself as the police officer who had pulled me over that morning. I wasn't sure what he was going to say and honestly a bit scared. What did he want now? Turns out he had been trying to reach me the entire day. He had been calling my parents' house (our answering machine is on the fritz) since that morning and hadn't gotten through until about 4 pm. My sister then gave him a number that he could reach me at. He was calling to tell me that he voided my ticket. His reasoning was that he saw that I was very close to Cornerstone when he pulled me over and assumed that I was a student there. He then said that he knew I was feeling pressure for exams and paying for college and did not want to burden me with a speeding ticket, especially because I had a completely clean driving record. I thanked him multiple times, still not entirely believing what had just happened. He said that he wanted to do the Christian thing and show me some grace. He then said he hopes that I have a blessed Thanksgiving and ended our conversation. I was stunned. He didn't fit my typical stereotype of a cop. The fact that he had called my house multiple times throughout the day to let me know what he had done for me really blew me away. This person doesn't know me. He didn't have to do that. He has written plenty of speeding tickets over the years and not voided them. As well as this, he had left his number with my sister in case my parents wanted to call him. Naturally, my mother called him and he basically said the same thing to her. He served as a witness to my unsaved father yesterday by showing me grace, reasoning that it was out of Christian love. I also found a message in my email from the Cornerstone front desk saying that the officer had stopped in and left his phone number and requested that I call him. He had even come back to the school to tell me what he had done.
I've been thinking about this since it happened and I can't quite get past it. I was shown grace by a complete stranger and now still have the $130 in my bank account. But even better than that I was reminded of the grace that God has blessed me with. He shows me grace even though I sin and hurt him. His grace means much more than not paying a speeding ticket. His grace is so unmerited and wonderful, yet it took something like this to bring it to my attention. I'm left without words now, and that is okay. My gratitude for the voiding of a speeding ticket has turned my ear and heart to the voiding of eternity in hell. Instead I get to have a relationship with the one and only God while I am here on earth and for the rest of eternity.
No comments:
Post a Comment