Today’s Post By: Rae Lynn DeAngelis
“Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name” (Psalm 119:132)
My husband travels quite a bit for his job. On one particular Monday, he was scheduled for a trip out of the country. I’m usually the first one up in the morning, but on this day, both my husband and son left the house extra early.
The phone rang, waking me from my slumber. Still half asleep, I bolted out of bed and answered with a groggy hello. My husband was in a panic because he left without his passport. He was already at the airport and didn’t have time to run back home, so he asked if I could bring it to him.
Barely awake, I got dressed, put in my contacts, threw on a ball cap to cover my bed-head hair, and was out of the house in record time.
I’m not very familiar with the airport, so I was doing my best to follow the signs leading me in the right direction. After meandering through the airport roadways, I finally saw my husband up ahead; he was standing on the curb waiting for me.
Spying a police car to my right, I looked down to make sure I wasn’t speeding. I was actually 5 mph under the speed limit. Arriving at my destination, I pulled over to the right side of the road, rolled down my window, and handed the passport to my husband.
At that very moment, the police car pulled up behind me with lights on. I turned to my husband with a look shock and assured him that I had not been speeding. Since I’ve never been pulled over by a policeman before, I was scared to death. Thank goodness my husband was with me.
The policeman walked up to my driver’s side window and asked if I knew why he was pulling me over. I told him I did not.
“Ma’am”, he said, “You ran a stop sign back there.”
Totally dumbfounded I replied, “I did? What stop sign?”
Apparently in my search to follow the signs leading to my husband’s location, I completely missed a very important sign. STOP! My husband explained the situation to the officer, and how I was unfamiliar with the airport. The nice policeman was willing to show me mercy, as long as my driving record came back clean. I assured him it was not just clean; it was squeaky clean. He asked to see my driver’s license and proof of insurance, so I quickly handed them over.
He looked them over for a moment and then said, “Ma’am, this insurance card has expired.”
Wow, this just wasn’t my day!
My husband explained how our insurance renewal came in the mail only a few days earlier and that he forgot to put the new card in my vehicle. Since the old insurance card was only expired by a few days, after verifying my driver’s record and proof of insurance, the policeman gave me a warning and sent me on my way.
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.” (Zechariah 7:9)
Did I deserve to be punished for my negligence that day? Absolutely! I broke the law – albeit unintentionally. However, God sent a compassionate policeman to bestow mercy on me and give me a second chance.
I’m so glad to know that God’s got my back.
“When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7)
“Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.” (Psalm 40:11)
