For eight years, we lived in West Michigan, Ottawa County, where almost all the roads are 55 MPH. I was driving home from church late one afternoon. The speed limit on that country road… 55. I pulled behind a elderly man driving at a steady clip of 37 miles per hour (nearly 20 MPH under the speed limit). That's fine. Happens all the time out there. When I got to the passing lane, I did just that. I passed him. Check that, I tried.
As I was passing to his left, I couldn't quite… actually… pass him. I hit 45, 50, 55, 60. Nothing. There he was at my immediate right. Without giving it much thought, I floored the accelerator. So did he. Now, I'm no longer in the legal passing lane for northbound traffic. It's double yellow, with a blind hill coming up. I glanced down to see that I was doing 70 MPH, and the man in the green Bonneville is still to my right.
So, I yielded this brief, little, battle of testosterone and I hit the brakes. I pulled in safely behind the man who'd doubled his speed over the previous 300 yards just so I wouldn't pass him. As I pulled in behind him, I immediately noticed two things. A red, white, and blue American ribbon. And? A Jesus fish.
A Jesus fish!
If I come clean with you, I will sheepishly admit that when I hit the brakes to yield the lane back to this man, there were some unholy thoughts and words flying through my head. Whether I said them out loud doesn't even matter because the bible says, "Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts…" And because God could read my heart, I was already guilty of being quick to anger. But when I saw "the fish", a whole new set of thoughts started flying around my head.
But mostly about me.
I wonder how often my sinfulness gets in the way of how others might see Jesus through me. Or not.
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