Dena Netherton: My Father's World, My Father's Words

I got a speeding ticket yesterday.

The perfect end to a truly stressful and frustrating day of looking for a townhome to rent down in southwest Denver area.

Not that I’m going to contest the ticket. I mean, I was speeding even though I didn’t know I was.

Funny, though. Because I’d been so careful during that long commute down south from Estes Park and then back north, to drive the speed limit. I even set my cruise control to match the mph signs.

It was one of those sections of highway where you can drive 65. So I was driving 65.

Then you come down a hill and halfway down it switches to 55.

I didn’t see the 55 sign.

The policeman was waiting.

Uh oh.

I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the flashing lights.

I was nice and respectful. He asked me if I knew what the speed limit was and I told him the last time I saw the sign it was 65. When he could see that I was not going to be an aggressive sort, he nicely explained how the slope and curve of the highway at that point made it necessary to reduce the speed limit to 55. He took my license, registration and proof of insurance and marched back to his computerized car. I waited a long, long time.

I thought maybe he would take pity on me since I was driving on unfamiliar highways. But, no. He gave me my ticket in a nice, friendly sort of voice and said if I paid it quickly I’d only get two points on my record. Whatever that means.

I said “Thanks.”

Thanks? For what?

I had to think about that for a minute.

Thanks. For not giving me a bigger ticket fine. For being polite and respectful. For not searching my car or suspecting that I was under the influence.

Thanks that I wasn’t one of the eighteen accidents the policeman said had happened just this month on this particular stretch of highway.

Thanks that God isn’t surprised by anything that happened that day.

Thanks that I’m forever in His care, and that He is always working on my spirit to make me more like Jesus. And the discipline of a speeding ticket reminds me that He wants to mature me and teach me more about Himself and about the sinful world I live in.

Thanks!

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:11 NIV Bible)