Don't Take Away My Rights! (That I Don't Even Use)
A car accident that caused me to turn inward and ask myself what I truly value.
Thud. Jolt.
The car behind me had just rear-ended me. How, you ask? Well my Jeep Wrangler had inched up slowly to get a view of the oncoming traffic on a busy, main road when the car behind me mistook my actions, pushed on the gas, and bumped the rear of the Jeep.
I was on my way to the grocery store, then I planned to stop by a friends house, quickly, and make it to my work for a Christmas banquet all in the next hour. But I just got rear-ended. Laughing at the reality and gravity of the situation but at ease knowing the Lord plans for all things, I got out of my car really fast as the traffic piled up behind us, and we agreed to pull over somewhere less chaotic.
When we pulled over, I just wanted to be this girl's friend. That was the Holy Spirit at work in me. Nothing was wrong with the Jeep, because that thing is a tank, thank you Jesus, but we were both a little frazzled and nervous. She was a high school student studying for her midterms, so she was on extra high alert.
There was this small little nudge I kept experiencing while looking upon her face as she explained what happened.
Maggie, you grabbed five Christmas Eve invite cards at church yesterday. You've been praying about giving them out. This is the perfect opportunity to show Christ to someone.
"Hold on! I have something for you! I told myself I was going to give these out to strangers. It's an invite card to my church's Christmas Eve service!" I stumbled through my words as I handed this sweet gal an invite card.
As that moment is now a memory of the past, I can't stop reflecting on how out of the ordinary that was for me. In years past, five invite cards would become my possession. I'd nervously scan who I could give them to every couple days, often failing to ever pull the trigger. This year, I had been intentionally praying that the Lord would allow me to hand out invitations to Christmas Eve services and He sent a car accident to do it.
After the Election of 2020, the Lord kindly showed me the crevices of my heart that clung tightly to political idolatry. These were little nooks and crannies I had no idea existed, because for many years, "I didn't have any political opinions," and that was my catch phrase.
Being a Christian means standing up for the fatherless, fighting for the unborn and the sanctity of life, providing for the widows, and a multitude of other things. Based on what we hold to as believers, we then determine, hopefully through the lens of Scripture, who we will vote for. This can get all types of sticky, and you may just end up giving higher esteem to what you're voting for then who you claim to be living for.
That's exactly what I did. My emphasis was on the policies, what I didn't want taken away from me and what I wanted given to me, what I wanted to protect and what I wanted to see done away with. My actions and pursuits were making a mockery of the One who was in the Heavens with complete control over all. Nothing about the Election came as a shock to the Lord.
Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases. Psalm 115:3
Are you tracking with me? I was unarmed when I gave my car-accident-buddy a Christmas invite because I rarely do that.
We, myself included, have been begging, pleading, posting on social media, and fighting for our right to religious liberties. We want to attend church. We want to post Bible verses on social media. We want to have potlucks and small groups. We want to listen to the Christian music radio station. We want the opportunity to tell people about Jesus in public, even if we don't take advantage of it.
My heart mourned the realization of this. I don't want to simply say I desire to have my religious liberties and then keep them in my moral bank account. Let's take advantage of the time we have to passionately proclaim the excellencies and grandeur of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He saves sinners. He is our peace. There are people who don't know Christ and will spend an eternity separated from Him, but He has given us the mission to go out and make disciples, and I pray we would take that charge seriously.
I don't want to have to get in another fender bender to tell someone about Christ.