Following laws of the land
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
Lord, forgive me for my lead foot.
That has been my prayer a couple of times over the past week or so.
For those who don’t know, the definition of “lead foot” is the following: “Used in reference to a person’s habit of driving too fast.”
Think of “putting the metal to the pedal.”
I pastor in Phenix City now, but live in Alex City. Because of that, we make the drive on Sunday and Wednesday. Under normal circumstances, it should take about 1 hour, 15 minutes, or so. However, the problem is that we don’t usually have 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there.
My wife holds our record time of getting there in just over an hour. Not only does the metal concept have to be applied to achieve such a time, but you have to hit the lights right, as well.
My wife recently had the flu, which resulted in me driving the trip a couple of Wednesdays ago. It was just me and my two boys, as my wife and two girls stayed home ill.
We were somewhat pressed for time, having about 1 hour and 10 minutes to arrive on time. I was moving at a pretty good clip in our Honda Odyssey down Highway 280 toward Opelika.
I noticed the blue flashing lights behind me near Camp Hill.
“Great,” I thought to myself. “Now, we’re going to be really late.”
I found a little side road to turn off on. Here’s where the shout out to Detective Lindsey from the Camp Hill Police Department comes in.
Detective Lindsey clocked me at 78 in a 65. Not too bad, perhaps. But still possibly worthy of a speeding ticket.
Detective Lindsey was professional and friendly. He told me to slow down a little and let me off with a warning.
The boys said afterwards it was a good thing all the warning tickets didn’t fall from the glove compartment when I went for the registration and proof of insurance.
But maybe half of those warnings were issued to my wife. Well, maybe 25 percent.
We made it to Phenix City just a few minutes late – even after getting pulled over. As it turned out, I unknowingly had to preach because it was the fifth Wednesday of the month.
I hadn’t prepared anything. I had texted some of the people at church after I got pulled over that we would probably be a little late. Another guy texted back that the service would be on “the spirit of lawlessness.”
At the time, I chuckled. But when I found out it was my service, it sounded good.
My mind went to Romans 13 about how we are to follow the laws of the land, so to speak. I started out by giving a shout out to Detective Lindsey. Then, I confessed my faults to everyone there.
Romans 13 starts out this way: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is now power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and that that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.”
I told the people that if I had not been speeding, I could have waved at Detective Lindsey without a care in the world when I drove by him. Detective Lindsey then could have waved back, praising me for going the speed limit.
But most people hit the brakes when they notice a cop ahead. They do that out of necessity because they’re going way too fast. I’m sure you’ve been there and done that.
Romans 13:4 states… “But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake.”
Now my conscience comes into play. I did feel bad. I asked God to forgive me for my lead foot.
Three days later, I was at it again. This time, however, ignorance was involved. We were traveling through a small town in Florida late at night and I thought the speed limit was 40 mph. An officer pulled over our van and told me it was a 30 mph zone and I had a headlight out.
My wife was in the passenger seat and told an officer that came to her window that she was glad I was the one driving and not her. Our four kids were asleep in the back. I received a verbal warning this time. God forgive me. I’ll do my best to curb my lead foot.
