Life can go crazy because there are many crazy people in the world. I know, I am one.
Through the years, I have come to appreciate the crazy. They make life interesting and make me seem less crazy than I really am.
The interesting thing is that a madman appears in your life when you least expect it. There is no way you can prepare for these crazy episodes. If I could just wear a camera on my glasses, I could make a fortune.
The other day I drove by the McDonald’s drive-thru to order my morning cup of coffee to take back to my office. Of course, I do it every morning as a routine.
This morning was quite stressful and I had a schedule that I wanted to fill out for the day. So she was thinking about what she was going to do while driving through the drive-thru. In front of me was a blue car and a lady was driving it.
He finished his order and then started driving forward, I started driving forward and looked left at the ordering place, and unknown to me he stopped and I ran into his bumper.
Is that what bumpers are for?
That was the start of one of the craziest episodes I’ve had in a long time. Oh, that my camera was in place.
When I was young, I enjoyed watching “Smile, You’re on Candid Camera.” I thought this was happening to me.
The lady jumped out of her car yelling at me and waving her fist, and I thought she was joking. You know how people like to play pranks on other people, so I thought this was what was going on.
I looked at her and started laughing, thinking this was part of a joke.
The more I laughed, the more he yelled and yelled at me. She used language that even sailors wouldn’t use in public. He asked me to do things to myself that are physically impossible to do. Enough to say about that.
He then went to his car, grabbed his cell phone, came back and took pictures of my truck’s license plate. I hope I don’t see it on Facebook. He then took pictures of what my truck had done to his bumper.
I went looking, and I had to search a lot to find it, and finally, there it was. A small scratch the size of a fingernail. I looked at the front of my truck and couldn’t find any scratches comparable to the scratch on hers.
She started screaming, “Don’t you dare touch me!”
I don’t do a lot of things and not touching her was at the top of that list.
He then took his cell phone, showed it to me, and said, “I’m going to call the police.”
We were in the middle of the drive-thru and the customers behind us couldn’t get through because she didn’t move until the police arrived.
The McDonald’s manager came out and calmed her down, eventually getting her to get out of line and wait for the police. I followed her and parked next to her.
While we were waiting for the police to come, she was taking pictures of the little scratch. Do not talk with her; He just let her go and do his thing.
Finally, the police arrived. He was a little worried that we would be wasting his time when there are more serious problems that he needs to take care of. But, crazy will be crazy.
He talked to us and took our information, and then looked over at his car. She didn’t go to look at it because she said it’s not worth a police investigation. I agreed with him. So did the McDonald’s manager. A scratch isn’t really that much damage. It could probably be fixed with nail polish.
The manager said that there were cameras and that this incident would have been recorded.
He finally left, and I had a brief chat with the police officer, and then we parted ways.
That was not the end of the story.
Have you ever faced temptation so strong that you did everything you could not to give in to it?
One of my favorite hymns has this line: “Don’t give in to temptation for giving in is a sin.”
I was unable to place my order prior to this incident, so I drove around McDonald’s to get to the drive-thru. Can’t you guess who was in front of me in the left lane of that drive-through?
Oh yeah, it was the lady with the scratch on her car.
I was tempted to stop behind her and make sure she noticed I was behind her. I wrestled with that thought for a moment or two.
After careful consideration, I pulled into the right lane and actually went ahead of her in ordering my coffee. At the McDonald’s store, that was the talk of the employees.
It’s not often that I get involved in such a crazy situation.
As I was walking away from McDonald’s, a verse of Scripture came to mind. “Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38).
Temptations will come every day, but I have the strength in Christ to resist all temptation for the glory of God.