Jaywalking

Yesterday up here at UC Davis was Picnic Day, a day for students to invite their families and for alumni to return for a day of sweet events like Dachsund races, a "battle of the bands," campus tours, and a big ol' parade. It was a beautiful day, and a lot of fun.

The day before picnic day, I was heading to a meeting with the woman that I work with at Countryside Community Church. We had agreed to meet at Starbucks, which is just a 5 minute walk from my house. It was a gorgeous day, and I was wearing my blue board shorts and a blue hawai'ian shirt; in my own little bubble, everything was right with the world. The problem is that the ideal path to Starbucks was (and is) bisected by the main street in Davis, and the crosswalk for this street is 100 feet in the other direction. It's 4 lanes, divided by a grassy median. So I said, "Well, no cars coming, guess I'll go." I didn't even have any thoughts about the illegality of my actions, just whether or not I was going to get run over. So after looking both ways, I crossed the first two lanes and made it to the grassy median. The other two lanes were stopped up with traffic, and stopped two cars away from me was a cop. A motocycle cop, no less. It's pretty hard to be inconspicuous in blue board shorts and a bright blue hawai'ian shirt, so I just stood there like a deer in the headlights. After staring at me for awhile, he said, "You gonna cross?" And I said, "Is that ok?" To which he answered, "Now would be a good time." So, feeling like a dog who just peed on the carpet, I crossed the street.

There was a time where I used to have a real problem with jaywalking, but it has kind of eroded over time. There were times when I would be walking in a group and we'd all just jaywalk it, and I would walk around the long way, take the crosswalk, and meet back up with them again on the other side. But after awhile, I just said, "Hey, it's just jaywalking, right?" I know this sounds like one of those "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" talks that my mom used to give me, but I do think that there is a lot of truth in the way my beliefs and morals are slowly eroded. In my mind, I knew that jaywalking was against the law, but I was willing to compromise that belief because I didn't see any immediate consequences to my actions. But those consequences became VERY real to me when I set eyes on that policeman.

John Eldredge talks in his book, Waking The Dead, about how we as believers make "agreements," or compromises in our Christian lives. The kicker about this is, no matter how trivial and seemingly harmless our agreements are, The truth is that we settle for less than God's best. It was a reminder to me that GOD is always watching me, and that he loves to show up and discipline me. In my shame, he reminds me that he wants to create in me a desire for holiness, and a yearning to be conformed to the image of Christ. One step at a time, one day at a time. This, for me, is repentance; a constant turning, a reminder that God desires for his people to be set apart, just as he is. After my meeting, I took the crosswalk home.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18)

"The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good." (Proverbs 15:3)

See you soon.