Wind-Up Cars

It’s been awhile, and I regret that. I like to put things down because I remember them better that way, and too many times there have been things worth remembering that I forgot because I didn’t type them out or write them down. My loss.

I did see something yesterday that caused me to want to get back to this blog. As my family and I were driving home from church, we approached a rather busy intersection. As we were turning right, the light for those wishing to proceed straight ahead changed to green and the line of traffic began to move forward.

I heard one of those cars that had the modifications to make it sound “cooler” and louder, which really just make them sound like glorified wind-up cars. For a reason unknown to me, I felt the need to turn and look, and when I did I saw that someone in one of these wind-up cars felt the need to zoom around the first car in the line of forward proceeding traffic. Not really such a big deal in the grand scheme of things, right? Except that they did this in the middle of the intersection that was already limited in space, and placed others in danger because of their impatience.

To make it more ridiculous, if that little wind-up car had waited all of 3 more seconds to get across the intersection, the road becomes a two-lane road and they would have had plenty of room to make the pass safely and legally. But alas, that was not the case, and as a result, they have become the focus of my blog and will internationally be known as that “irresponsible wind-up car.”

Okay, so it’s not that international, but it still helped me to remember how incredibly selfish we are becoming in our world. So much of what it marketed is done by appealing to our sense of self. We are encouraged to grab all we can, and not just worry about the consequences later, but don’t even consider what consequences could even occur. This is a dangerous line of thinking that is catching up to us more quickly than any of us would like. Too many innocent bystanders have become victims to someone else’s selfishness, and there is no one being held responsible for that.

For those of us that claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, and hold to His teachings found all through His Word (the Bible), this type of selfishness is not new. It is a worldly teaching that has existed as long as people. Adam and Even decided they wanted to have something bad enough to go against God to get it. King David wanted someone else’s wife, so he took it. The Pharisees wanted their traditions and laws so much that they missed the Messiah standing before them.

Jesus makes it simple: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Love God, and Love Others. Doesn’t require a lot of complicated steps to remember this. BUT, it does not make it easy. Loving God and others requires putting aside selfishness, and that can prove to be difficult. BUT, if we at least lean towards trying hard to do this, I believe that could be a huge turning point in our world. It’s asking a great deal of people who do not choose to follow Christ, but if those that do claim Christ would shake off this worldly behavior and live more selflessly, we would make a greater impact than we know, and then maybe the wind-up cars would be more careful. Maybe then I wouldn’t mind the wind-up cars so much.