Faced with a choice

For lunch this afternoon I went to Subway with Justin Wood (STUD). As I pulled up to Subway, I turned off my car and opened my door. I had forgotten to cover my laptop up in my front seat so I pulled my backpack over it. About that time I heard the crash. I looked at my door and the wind had caught it, flung it open to where it connected with a brand new, 2007 Orange Ford Mustang.

My heart started racing as I pulled the door back in to inspect the damage. It was a 4 inch by 2 inch scratch that was red and white. I closed my door and thought about my options.

1) I could confess, try to find the other driver and offer to pay for my actions
2) I could start my car and pull to another parking spot, thus covering up my responsibility.
3) Start crying and call my dad for advice.

What was funny was, I knew all along what would be the right thing to do, but I still had the temptation inside of me to pull away and not think twice. I decided to try to find the driver and when I did, she was dissapointed, but we buffed most of it out and eventually she said that accidents happen and did not want my phone number or anything to help her take care of it.

The moral of the story: do what is right regardless of the cost. This woman had an incredible amount of mercy upon me. She said that although she was dissapointed it happened, she understood. What an amazing picture of grace and mercy. I am glad I got to experience that!

In the Presence

I was sitting in Starbucks yesterday visiting with my good friends Kevin Rogers and Justin Mitchell when I happened to notice an older couple sitting across the coffee shop. What caught my attention was not what they were doing, rather, what they were not doing. They were not talking, laughing, sharing stories or anything like that.

Instantly I had the urge to laugh and I pointed this couple out to Kevin and Justin. However, God grabbed me and gave me a life lesson that I have not been able to get out of my head since that time. Here was a couple that had obviously been together for sometime. A couple who has surely been through sickness, health, prosperity, despairity, and here they were at Starbucks, enjoying coffee with one another without sharing a word. In this instance, no words needed to be said. They were simply enjoying each others company enough to rest in the fact that they were together. After about five minutes of watching the couple, they looked at each other, and, without a word, stood up and walked out of Starbucks, back into their lives.

This occurence, although awkward for me at first, showed that I need to have that kind of intimate time with Christ in my own life. The Bible calls the church the bridegroom of Christ, and I fully believe that as Christians, all of us need to take the time to simply rest in Christ. Just as this couple was doing so genuinely at Starbucks, sometimes we as humans need to lay down everything that is going on in our day to spend time in Christ; to let Christ dwell within us.

Think about it.