A few months ago my husband and I decided to go shopping on a Friday night *bad idea*. Everywhere we turned there was traffic. We ended up being a victim of road rage. I seriously thought this guy was going to pull out a gun or come pounding on our car window, as I've seen many times caught on camera. Out of nowhere this guy begins honking his horn frantically. Hubby and I look behind us to see what was going on. While being distracted the cars in front of us move on because the light turned green. Of course, being distracted we didn't go as fast as person behind us would have liked. So as we did begin to move forward he zooms in front of us, almost hitting our front bumper and slams on his breaks. We slam on our breaks almost hitting him. He jumps out of his car and starts yelling at us and waving his fist in the air like crazy in the middle of the road, stopping all traffic. Hubby and I have no idea what is going on, it all happened so fast. Thankfully hubby is not hot tempered and remained calm. We didn't exchange a single word or roll down our window. We just sat there in shock. The man thankfully jumped in his truck and zoomed off. What just happened?
It seems like everyday I'm reading about someone being shot because of road rage. What's going on? Why are people so angry? This one man followed a lady for miles. Then pulled up next to her and shot her. This is so crazy. Again, today I heard the news of another lady being shot because of road rage. Hubby says he's had a man chase him down the highway in his car screaming from the window. Are you kidding me? People are so angry.
I believe one reason is our growing sense of entitlement. From commercials, to social media and more we are told we deserve this and deserve that. We are able to express our thoughts freely and feel entitled to tell people what we think. We are becoming increasingly self-centered as God is being removed from every facet of many people's lives.
I also believe we are stressed out. We work long hours without raises or appreciation while our mortgages and other bills increase, and now mandatory health care that's anything but affordable. We are always trying to play catch up and keep up with our peers. Many of us aren't truly happy. Materialism has exploded to new levels. We've forgotten the true meaning of life. Working our lives away for things will never fill the God shaped hole in our hearts. We no longer value a gentle and peaceful life.
What's the solution? God! But we can't force people to focus on their spiritual lives, we can only control ourselves. It's a scary world we live in. We can only pray that God's hedge of protection surrounds us and that we are good stewards of the light He's put in us. We must be committed to shine in the dark places. I really have no solution for other people because I can not control other people. I do know it's increased my prayer life anytime I'm out and about. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a bit of anxiety but I have to trust God with my life.
He has offered us wisdom in the Bible. One verse in particular that comes to mind is Proverbs 15:1 NIV, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger". I think that's what truly saved us during our road rage experience. We didn't yell back or anything. Lets remember that before we honk and drive with an attitude that could stir up wrath. Let's try and be peaceful people even in our driving though it doesn't always matter when faced with a road rage - many are innocent victims.
We must trust God as we walk this earth.
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