Seeing God in Greece: On the road
Last of a series
I braced myself for a collision the first time it happened.
I usually sat near the front of our huge tour bus so I had a better view
of the road ahead and the Greek scenery alongside. The broad two lane
road was well marked with a center white line and lines separating the
road from the blacktopped apron.
Speeding toward us were two cars. One pulled out to pass the other. I
knew instantly there was not enough room for it to get around before the
bus would smash into it. But the bus driver calmly pulled the coach on
to the apron, the car that was being overtaken nudged over on to its
apron, and the passing auto easily zipped between us.
I remember thinking, "Wow, that was close! That you, God, for guardian
angels!"
But a couple miles down the road it happened again. This time our bus
driver passed a car with oncoming traffic bearing down on us. Once again
the cars eased over on to the apron and we safely continued our journey.
I learned that day that in Greece the lines painted on the highways are
only guidelines. If a car is passing ahead of you, you just slide over.
A bit later I learned another lesson: stop signs are only suggestions.
As long as no one is coming, there's no need to stop.
And in the cities during rush hour I learned that it's OK for
motorcycles to zoom between cars backed up at stop lights - in fact, in
a pinch, motorcycles are allowed to use the sidewalks.
To Americans that all seems foolish and dangerous. But it works! It
works because Greeks anticipate that the other drivers are going to bend
the laws. They simply adjust to that behavior.
This is a picture of life on Earth. We live in a world that is broken.
So we expect that life and other people will never work like they are
supposed to. We adjust. We stay alert to the people who will try to
barge into our lane. We remain on the look-out for those who treat moral
stop signs as suggestions, just in case their failure to stop causes an
accident. We watch that we're not run over by someone focused on his own
agenda - even when we're on the sidewalks of life.
It's tough to live in God's world as he designed it. No one wants to
live God's way - including the old adam in each of us. Besides, we
think, doing the right thing may only get us into trouble (ever stop at
a stop sign when the people behind you thought you should go through?).
Yet we Christians strive to drive life's road according to our Father's
rules. For us God's love in Jesus is much stronger motivation than
giving in to the peer pressure of what everyone else is doing. Because
of God's love in Jesus we strive to follow the laws even when everyone
else is breaking them.
James Aderman is pastor of Fairview Lutheran in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He
is also the editor of LivingBold.
Consider the events in your life that might be worthy of special
reminders by clicking here and going on to Deeper Thoughts.
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