The Lord truly works in mysterious ways, revealing to us the strength of our faith as well as its weaknesses. The other day, as my wife and I were traveling home from Tulsa, we experienced a most unusual occurrence. It was about 9:15 pm and we were less than a half mile from the house when, upon preparing to make a left turn onto the side street, we heard this loud CRACK and THUD, and saw upon the windshield a dizzying spread of GUNK.
At first I had no idea as to what had happened. Because of the way the windshield looked through the GUNK, I could not tell if it was cracked. But then, a realization hit me. As I heard the screams and yells of the little white car that perpetrated the deed, I realized that we had been egged. I had no idea that an egg thrown at a moving car could have such an impact!
Anyway, as I completed the left turn, I looked back to see the little white car speeding off in the other direction. Now, here was my flesh. I could feel a sense of anger welling up inside. I quickly made a turn in the parking lot and sped off to find the eggers! Of course, my thoughts were nothing but noble. I just wanted to tell them of the dangers of throwing objects at moving cars and request of them to clean the car (with their tongues!). But the Lord, in His providence, did not allow me to get far as I lost them, not seeing really where they turned. My wife did ask me what I would have done if I had caught up with them. And while I would like to think I would have handled the situation well, I did have to consider my initial response. To be sure, disappointment and anger at such an act is not in itself wrong. But remember, it was 9:15 pm. The sun had just a few moments left. The words of Ephesians 4:26 sprang up in my head,
"BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger..."
I was running out of sun light and staying angry wasn't going to solve anything. So, we made the final trek home and I washed off the egg from the hood and windshield, noting some minor damage to the paint, but oh well, we were safe. Believing in the providence of God as I do, I began to ask the Lord the lessons I was supposed to learn, handing my sense of vengeance over to the Lord, praying for the salvation of the youth that had nothing better to do and coming to enjoy the rest of the evening.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
At first I had no idea as to what had happened. Because of the way the windshield looked through the GUNK, I could not tell if it was cracked. But then, a realization hit me. As I heard the screams and yells of the little white car that perpetrated the deed, I realized that we had been egged. I had no idea that an egg thrown at a moving car could have such an impact!
Anyway, as I completed the left turn, I looked back to see the little white car speeding off in the other direction. Now, here was my flesh. I could feel a sense of anger welling up inside. I quickly made a turn in the parking lot and sped off to find the eggers! Of course, my thoughts were nothing but noble. I just wanted to tell them of the dangers of throwing objects at moving cars and request of them to clean the car (with their tongues!). But the Lord, in His providence, did not allow me to get far as I lost them, not seeing really where they turned. My wife did ask me what I would have done if I had caught up with them. And while I would like to think I would have handled the situation well, I did have to consider my initial response. To be sure, disappointment and anger at such an act is not in itself wrong. But remember, it was 9:15 pm. The sun had just a few moments left. The words of Ephesians 4:26 sprang up in my head,
"BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger..."
I was running out of sun light and staying angry wasn't going to solve anything. So, we made the final trek home and I washed off the egg from the hood and windshield, noting some minor damage to the paint, but oh well, we were safe. Believing in the providence of God as I do, I began to ask the Lord the lessons I was supposed to learn, handing my sense of vengeance over to the Lord, praying for the salvation of the youth that had nothing better to do and coming to enjoy the rest of the evening.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
1 comment:
I think you handled that quite well.
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