Spiritual Road Rage

Over a year ago, I wrote about Private Road Rage... a purely sarcastic paragraph where I described "Private Road Rage" as "displaying a Godly face and a serene smile, and nodding kindly with a smile on my face to the person trying to cut me off, but inside... I'm privately raging, just displaying it with manners." Real spiritual, huh?

Well, I have a new level of Road Rage to share with you ... it's called ... Spiritual Road Rage. It's where the enemy is purposely trying to tick you off by sending people your way to cut you off, swerve or veer into you, yell and scream at you, flip you off, all while talking on the phone, all with the sole purpose of getting you upset past the point of self control and cause an un-Godly reaction to burst forth. It really is spiritual warfare.

Living near a city like Washington, D.C. can make your state well known for their traffic issues. Bumper to bumper rush hours, crazy drivers, ANGRY drivers, drivers that have a sense of "road ownership" and feel that they are entitled to drive like crazy maniacs (and you should BACK OFF, dude) are not uncommon!

And then ... there's a whole other level of crazy drivers ... the Kawasaki race rats. Oh, MY STARS! They really bother me! They veer in, veer out, veer in, veer out. They drive in between lanes, and change lanes in the emergency lane. They perform stunts ... they almost mock you as they veer back and forth ... and that's the truth. GAH! It's just about enough to get my blood pressure boiling.

Living in this area really tests a persons limits of self control, Godly love, and forgiveness. Driving on these main highways brings on a whole new level of spiritual warfare into play, and really stretches your discipline with regards to following two scripture verses: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you..." (Matthew 7:12a) and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt 26:39b). Trust me when I say ... there are many things I'd like to do to a crazy driver, and one of them is not to love them like myself. Uh-uh.

Last week, I was cut off by a young woman (nineteen to 20 years old), who was busy dialing on her cell phone, and then chatting away. She was most certainly NOT paying attention. We were both turning left. There were two left turn lanes. She was in the far left, and I was in the right one. When we turned, she veered right into my turning lane without even looking. I couldn't go anywhere, because there was a car to my right. So, I laid on the horn, and when she looked up at me, she yelled at me and gave me the finger. A sight we see often in these parts.

And it was right then ... right there ... that it became very clear to me that I had to come up with a new way to release all my pent-up anger. I decided I would no longer practice "Private Road Rage" ... no, indeed. I found that when I yelled the following out loud in my car (to no one in general), I felt so much better! Right when she flipped me the bird, and went off in her "entitled" merry way, I yelled out: "LADY! YOU are TRYING to make me LOOSE MY SALVATION, but it's NOT GONNA HAPPEN TODAY, because JESUS LOVES YOU, and THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME, so I'M GONNA LOVE YOU TOO. Now, MOVE ALONG."

I tell you ... the release I felt was ever so freeing!