Stop!
I was forced this week to stop! I was forced to literally stop and just sit and be quiet. I did not want to stop. I had places to go, things I needed to accomplish. It was not fun to stop, especially because of the blue lights that were flashing behind me. But I your pastor sat there impatiently waiting for the deputy to make his way to my car. I’m sure I wasn’t sitting there long, my daughter Lydia sitting there beside me secretly laughing at me, but it felt like it took forever for that Caroline County deputy to get up to my car, go back to his car, come back to my car. I had a bunch of thoughts and feelings go through my mind and heart as I sat there in my car, stopped on the road. Will he give me a warning? That would be nice! Maybe he goes to church and is practicing forgiveness today? I need to preach a sermon on the importance of forgiveness. I prayed that another call would come in and he would have to drive away to something more urgent than me. I sat in my car impatient, waiting, embarrassed and mad.
Well, I have no idea if this deputy is a church-going man or not, but on this particular day, this deputy wasn’t into warnings or forgiveness. It must have been a slow day in Caroline because he had plenty of time to write my ticket and then lecture me on the importance of stopping at stop signs.
I learned my lesson as I sat there waiting for the deputy to write my ticket and the check I now have to write will cement in my mind the importance of stopping even more. There are times in life you have to stop. You can’t just slowly roll through; you have to actually stop. God actually tells us that too. It is important to stop. Yeah, we all have places to go, things to get done. But at least one day a week God says we are to stop and worship God, stop and give thanks for all God has done for us, stop and reassess our priorities. God says we are to stop and ask ourselves if we are living and giving in a way that is giving honor to God. Are we living in a way that is helpful to other people? How often would God’s blue lights need to flash behind us and remind us how important it is to stop? Not slow down and roll on through, but to actually stop. You see, a lot of us, we may slow down come the weekend, but how often do we, especially in the summer, just keep on rolling and never actually stop as God calls us to? We need to do more than just take a break from work and relax on the lake, we need to actually stop at church and take time to be with God.
I don’t know, I may send my new deputy friend a note and invite him to stop in and see us on Sunday. It’s so important for all of us to stop.
