A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects. He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' License plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, And the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, Naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car."
When I first read this I thought to myself "Good for you officer, how dare she give Christians a bad name like that!" Then, I had to stop for a second and let myself soak in the 'guilt' and admit that there have been times in my life when I have acted just like this stressed out lady on the busy boulevard of life. There have been times where I have called myself a Christian and then turned around and acted like anything but. There are times when I have been so caught up in trying to accomplish what "I" thought was necessary and so wrapped up in 'me' and I failed to yield and look around me at what was really important.
Lord, please help this story be a reminder to me that everything that I do and say is a reflection on you because I am a Christian. Help me to live my life full of your Spirit's self-control. I ask that you to control the areas of my life and help me surrender my ways that are harmful to you and to others... because only then can I live in peace and contentment. "For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self control. " 2 Peter 1:5-6
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