I came to realize about a month or so ago that my driving was leaving much to be desired. It’s not that I can’t negotiate a left hand turn, or parallel park my car. The handling of my automobile is just fine.

It was my attitude behind the wheel that left much to be desired. I found I was getting too upset when I drove; other drivers did things that literally were driving me crazy.

But that wasn’t healthy for me, or for others on the road, and it wasn’t showing me to be under God’s control either. So over the last month or so, I’ve taken some measures.

I’ve slowed down, and consciously thought, “I don’t need to race to where I’m going”. I’ve started to allow more room between my car and the vehicle in front of me.

Life’s been good. Well . . . that is until the other day when I found myself behind a car with a bumper sticker in the shape of a stop sign that read, “STOP TEXTING”.

My wife will tell you that I’m not very good at texting and driving, though that’s just the back seat driver in her talking.

But seriously, I try not to text while I’m driving. I use a bluetooth speaker to make and receive calls, so when I read the bumper sticker, it didn’t dawn on me that the sticker was shouting out at me.

However, after following the car for only a few seconds, the sticker was actually shouting out at that car’s driver. I found myself reading the sticker and then looking in disbelief at the driver through her rear window.

She wasn’t paying attention to the road! When the way was clear to make a right hand turn, I could see her head bent down. She crossed the line a couple of times, again doing what looked like bending down to get something.

One car beside her had to move over for fear of getting sideswiped.

I read the sign again, “STOP TEXTING” and said (in a calm voice, because now my attitude was in check), “Ya, stop doing whatever you’re doing and drive”.

Eventually I pulled up in the other lane and passed her. I thought it might be better if she was behind me rather than directly in front of me … FAR behind me.

I took a look at her as I went by; she seemed oblivious to how she’d been driving. She didn’t look like a texter. She had grey hair – the majority of her hair was quite grey. Enough said.

I don’t think she was texting. I do think that she believes it’s very dangerous to text while driving and that it angers her to see someone doing it.

But after driving behind her for a few minutes, I wished she had a sticker on her car that read, “KEEP YOUR EYES ABOVE THE DASHBOARD”, maybe even a bobble head sign that sat on her dashboard.

As I glanced behind me, I realized my blood pressure hadn’t risen a bit. Now that’s progress!

Here’s the thing: We might get upset with those that text and drive because it’s distracting and dangerous. Whatever she was doing was also distracting and dangerous. … It’s easy to see the sin in other people. But if seeing their sin gets you angry, then evaluate yourself. There’s a good chance you are harbouring a similar sin. Deal with your sin, and you will find compassion to help others deal with theirs instead of judging them.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you learned about yourself by watching others? Leave your comment below.