Think Of Others As Better Than Yourself

I confess. I have this quirk. I will go out of my way to park my car in the most empty part of a parking lot, far away from stores, even in Arctic temperatures, to prevent the doors of my RAV4 from getting dinged or scratched. And if the parking lot is crowded, I'll park next to the most expensive cars I can find. If any of my sons complain, I just tell them the exercise is good for them. It's funny, but now three of my sons have picked up this habit with their own cars. However, yesterday God decided to teach me a lesson about what is really important. He put me to the test. I initially failed, but eventually passed.

On the way home from shopping at Walmart, I got rear ended. Yes, you heard me right. I couldn't believe it. I was stopped and waiting at an intersection because the light was red, when BAM! a pick-up truck slammed into me. My first thought was, "My poor RAV4!" I dreaded getting out of my vehicle to assess the damages, but when I got out, the first thing I noticed was the pathetic sorrowful look on a scruffy man's face as he got out of his truck and was coming towards me. I looked at his truck which was now only inches away from my vehicle. It was old, scratched, faded, dinged, and rusty. I couldn't help but ask myself the question: "If I had to get rear-ended, why couldn't it have been a Porsche or a Lamborghini?"

I looked back at the man's face again and felt guilty at my selfishness and pride. This man obviously didn't have a whole lot of money. I decided then and there that I would offer to pay for the damages. I prayed quickly and silently that the damages wouldn't be too costly.

When we both inspected the back of my vehicle, we were astonished to see that there was neither dint nor scratch. We looked at each other in shocked disbelief and then inspected my vehicle again, this time a litte more closely. Nope, there was no damage in the least. We couldn't understand it. His truck had hit me hard, but there was absolutely no evidence of it.

I tried not to rationalize it by remembering that God works above our rational thinking. I whispered a prayer, "Thank you God," and then turned to the man and said, "You're free to go. Have a nice day." The man apologized again, but I don't think I've ever seen as great a transformation on a person's face as I did at that moment. He went from misery to elation, leaving me with a memory I will never forget: the most gigantic smile ever!

My lesson learned. Don't be selfish or proud. Don't think of yourself (or your vehicle) as better than someone else (or someone else's).

"Don't be selfish;

don't try to impress others.

Be humble,

thinking of others as better than yourselves."

Philippians 2:3 (NLT)