Josiah Road

Dude, Where’s My Car?

posted by Jonathan Frank 6Oct

This weekend I went up to the University of Tennessee to visit some of my friends from high school that attend there now. It was a great weekend and it was wonderful catching up with everybody, things were perfect—until I tried to leave. I packed my things, and my friends walked me to the parking lot where I had parked my car, only to find—oh wait, IT’S NOT THERE!

Yes, my car was towed. In hindsight there were signs that said “Staff Parking Only” but apparently I didn’t see that when I parked there. I was not a happy camper. My friend drove me to the University Police where I was made to pay an astronomical fee and then told after waiting for what seemed like forever, I could get my car back. The police officer I was speaking with asked me, “Do you want to follow the police officer in your vehicle or ride with the officer to the impound lot?” This person had apparently forgotten that I didn’t have a vehicle—it had been towed! So by default, I said I would ride with the police officer–bad decision.

What I didn’t know is that I would be riding in the back of the police car—you know, where the criminals sit. I had never so much as received a parking ticket before this particular day, so needless to say, sitting in the back of a police car was a first for me. And I did not like it. First of all, you are basically enclosed in a metal cage, also you cannot open your door or window from the inside, the typical upholstered back seat is swapped out for a hard plastic one, and there is a thick glass divider between you and the front half of the car to boot. I shuddered to think of who might have sat where I was sitting before me, and then wished desperately for some hand sanitizer. I wondered, “Am I in trouble for something … are they going to take me ‘downtown’ like they say in the movies?”

Looking at my undesirable surroundings, Isaiah 64:6 came to mind, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” In some respects, this was how I lived, this was what I was. This was what I deserved. As I entered the back seat of the police car I initially thought, “I don’t belong here,” but I was quickly humbled by God’s gentle reminder that I deserve much worse, and it was His Son, Jesus, who experienced the ultimate example of bearing a burden He didn’t deserve through His death on the cross, where “the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 54:6).

It is so good to know that while my deeds may deserve a fate far worse than a twenty minute ride in the back of a police car, because of God’s grace, I don’t get what I deserve, I can receive God’s gift of eternal life—and guess what? I pick that!