Grandpa learned very quickly that the motorist was having a bad day. He did not appreciate being talked down to by the older gentleman, and they quickly began to have words. As tempers unfurled, the granddad wisely decided to leave. But as he was driving away, the hothead retrieved a pistol from his automobile and fired at the departing car. The shot hit something and ricocheted, then caught the child in the head, killing him instantly.
This kind of tragedy stuns everyone.
Who was at fault? Clearly, the man who fired the shot was the criminal. But the grandfather created the situation by a) trying to teach another motorist and b) continuing to press home the point even when he saw the other driver was angry.
Sadly, there is an older gentleman in our city who still grieves about the day he took it upon himself to do a public service to a wayward driver and paid for it with his grandson’s life.
Drivers must learn to shrug off the foolishness of highway idiots.
They have been with us from the beginning and nothing you and I can do will change that.
Once you climb behind the wheel, your goal is to arrive at your destination safely. Protect the people in your car.
To do this, you must anticipate foolish drivers. You must enter the interstate assuming some people will be speeding and some will be whizzing in and out of lanes, endangering themselves and everyone around them.
Expect it.
Plan for it.
There have always been thoughtless drivers on our streets and highways, and mostly, they are unteachable. Don’t even try. You’re wasting your time and possibly endangering your life and/or the lives of your passengers.
One of the biggest challenges you and I must face in this life is to subdue our own spirits. Unless we can tell ourselves a strong “No!” we will be at the mercy of our whims and emotions.
“He who rules his own spirit (is better) than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
If you decide to work on improving anyone, try it on yourself. Try to discipline yourself not to want to correct other drivers and to teach writers and speakers.
Let disagreeable posts on Facebook go without your giving in to the urge to say your piece. There are good people on both sides of the questions of Israel, gun control, security of the believer and Joel Osteen.
As a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, you will want to show the same respect toward your pastor and other spiritual leaders …
—The pastor used a plural subject with a singular verb in last Sunday’s sermon? Keep it to yourself.
