Are You Speeding?

My last couple of trips to the big city have netted a few revelations. One being quite obvious that, it must be true, small communities are suffering financial woes just by the presence of the police cars along the side of the highway delivering speeding and other tickets of motor vehicle operational violations. The second is that three dollar a gallon fuel has slowed the highway traveling pace by about ten miles per hour. I had noticed on earlier trips during the holidays that I was passing several more cars than usual on the two lane. Soon after, I filled my fuel tank and was face to face with the reality of the price increase since my last fill-up. My lead-foot has become light as a feather and I’m no longer spending my travel time to the big city in the show-off lane. At sixty miles per hour very few vehicles are zipping down the road much faster. I was thinking about making a sign to hang in the window of my van for those who are still flying low down the highway: “YOU’RE ONE OF THE REASONS GAS COSTS $3 A GALLON!” Maybe it’s just me, getting old and slow. NOT! I’m like you, where will it all end and is there anything I can do to better the situation. I do know if I don’t accelerate hard and slow down, my $3 a gallon gas goes much farther.
A man was speeding down the highway, feeling secure traveling in a gaggle of cars all traveling at the same speed. However, as they passed a speed trap, he got nailed with an infrared speed detector and was pulled over by the highway patrol. The officer obtained the man’s license, registration and proof of insurance then returned to his patrol car. A few minutes later the officer returned the man’s documents, handed the him a citation for speeding, received his signature and was about to walk away when the man asked, “Officer, I know I was speeding, but I don’t think it’s fair. There were plenty of other cars around me going just as fast, so why did I get the ticket?” The officer asked, “Ever go fishing?” Startled, the man stammered, “Well, yeah…” The officer interrupted and added, “Did you ever catch all the fish?”
A minister was stopped by a law enforcement officer, who pulled him over for speeding. As the officer was writing the ticket the minister said to him, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” The officer handed the minister the citation and said, “Go in peace my friend and speed no more.”
[Matthew 7: 13-14] The doctor says, “Slow down!” We speed up. The doctor warns that worry and stress is bad for the heart, but we just have to keep up with the Jones’. The doctor begs us to lose weight and eat better, but who has the time? It’s such a shame to watch people go through life as if it’s a race of fame and fortune. Oh, I know the Bible calls life a race, but learn the truth! Life is an endurance race. How many times will it take, seeing others getting caught for speeding and ticketed with heart-attacks, high blood-pressure, stroke, high cholesterol, diabetes, reparatory and numerous other physical problems, simply because they don’t heed the warnings, before we wake up? Walking the narrow path is good for the physical health of everyone and is essential for everyone’s spiritual health and the spiritual life to come, “…for broad is the road that leads to destruction.” Are you prepared to suffer the devastation of a debilitating physical meltdown? Are you ready to spend forever in the clutches of eternal death? You think it’s time for a physical and spiritual make-over?