Meditations by John Dean

Monday, February 11, 2013

Hiding Behind the Grocery Store

(Proverbs 18:17 KJV) He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.

Most people seem to feel justified by their actions. However, many times when their actions are challenged and scrutinized, the self-confidence they based their actions on in the first place suddenly becomes weakened.

This is certainly the case in most law suits. The purpose of lawyers and judges are to dissect our actions or judgments on an issue and determine the actual right and wrong of it. We may not always agree with the judge’s decision, but he or she usually judges the right and wrongs of things void of any personal emotions.

Emotions seem to be the basis for much of one’s actions and therefore one’s actions are often based on unclear facts. When one’s emotions are mixed with one’s instincts then that creates a whole different set of problems.

Such was the case with a pastor friend of mine who was traveling by car to a church meeting with his family. He and his wife and their little baby were in the front seat of the car and their older children were in the back seat of the car.

All of a sudden the kids in the back seat started hollering and rolling down the windows because their baby brother had done the unthinkable in his diaper. The mother quickly laid the baby across her lap and changed his diaper, but as far as the other kids were concerned that did not solve the problem. In their minds the car was ruined forever and needed to be burned. They continued hollering and profusely gagging with their heads hanging out the car windows until dad finally made a decision.

As a result of this unfortunate predicament my pastor friend made an emotional-instinctive decision that turned out to be less than wise. He slung the dirty diaper out the window not realizing there was a car traveling close behind.

The wind caught the flying diaper and it hit right in the middle of the windshield of the car behind. Upon impact the golden brown wet contents of the diaper quickly spread, covering the man’s entire windshield.

As my friend looked in his rearview mirror he saw the car weaving back and forth across the highway almost turning over as the driver was trying to pull to the side of the road. The driver dared not stick his head out to see where he was going for fear his face would be as quickly covered with the same gooey substance as his windshield was.

This story ends with my friend speeding to the next town and hiding behind a grocery store until things calmed down a bit and it was safe for him to continue his trip.

The fact is...his judgment seemed right to him at the time, but on closer examination his instinctive emotions almost got him in trouble and caused harm to the driver in the next car.

We do desire to be a good neighbor even though we oftentimes allow our emotions to affect our judgment. Forgive us Lord and help us to understand that our emotions are a gift from You, but we need to learn to use them in the right way.

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