A lesson in grace
PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2004 6:37 pm
I received a good lesson in grace this past weekend in a way I wouldn’t normally think of it. I didn’t recognize the significance of the event as it played out, but I think it has changed the way I view things. Allow me to elucidate.
I was in my car heading home for work on Thursday night, on my way to a birthday dinner for my stepfather. A dinner I would never make it to.
At the entrance to the freeway, traffic was heavier than normal. A few cars were sitting there waiting to enter the highway (Oh, how I hate stopping on the acceleration ramp). As I approach, the mini-van in front of me begins to roll. I take a quick look over my shoulder, the road looks clear. I look ahead, and the mini-van is still there! WHAM! I smack the mini-van at about three miles per hour.
We get out of our vehicles, I’m alone in my car, there is a couple in a rented mini-van ahead. Everyone’s OK, there are no injuries, so we inspect the vehicles. My car is fine. I hit the mini-van’s bumper square with my front license plate. The numbers on the plate have transferred come of their paint to the back bumper and that appears to be it, but then, we find it. The scratch. There is a small scratch on the bumper of their rented mini-van.
So what do you in this situation?
I didn’t realize it at the time, my head was on other things, but this is where the grace comes in.
Here are the choices, and just to be clear, since they were the ones struck, the mini-van decides here:
1) Report the incident. After all, the rental company could hold the poor unfortunate people responsible for the scratch on the bumper. It could end up being a claim against them and their insurance. This has definite ramifications for the person in the car. Reporting the incident means the person driving the car will receive a citation and will have the incident reported to their insurance, which will most likely result in an increase in insurance rates. Best case, it will cost the driver of the car under a hundred dollars in fines to the government but no increase in insurance. Worse case, the fine is much higher, in the hundreds of dollars, and the driver of the car also has to pay higher insurance premiums for at least three years.
2) Decide the scratch is not worth while and continue on your way. The car's driver would not be under legal obligation to pay for the damages if the rental company demands payment and his insurance company certainly wouldn’t accept a claim with out an accident report. They all could offer to work something out, but it would just be a gentleman’s agreement. In this case, the driver of the mini-van takes the financial risk. If the rental company decides to charge them and the driver of the car stiffs them, they are stuck with a bill for a problem they didn’t cause. Best case, no one is charged a nickel. Worse case, the rental company demands payment and the car’s driver stiffs the mini-van’s driver. So now he’s is stuck with the bill which results in either a claim on his own insurance, which may or may not end in increased insurance rates, or he pays a few hundred dollars out of his own pocket to fix the scratch.
So, if you were the driver of the mini-van and some dork rear-ends you, what do you do?
Or, more to the point, what does this have to do with grace?
We chose option 1. Well, more to the point, the folks in the mini-van chose option one. And believe me, I am not upset about that. It was certainly their right to do so. It was my fault for hitting them in the first place and they have a legal right to protect themselves from financial loss. I have no problem dealing with the consequences of the accident. (Other than that this has the potential of costing me a lot of money, but it’s my fault, I’ll deal with it). Sure, I wish the out come had been different, but I can’t be upset about anyone choosing to exercise their own rights.
It hit me later that night, however, that this is what grace is all about. Showing grace often means giving up your rights. Grace can be defined as forgiving a debt that another owes you. This is what the Lord did for us. We owe Him a debt. We have rear-ended Him and caused Him harm, through no fault of His own. But, instead of demanding satisfaction, instead of demanding His rights, He lets us drive off with nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement that we will try to make it right.
I will remember this when anyone owes me a debt. Not that the people in the mini-van are evil or mean for holding me responsible, it was their right to do so. I hold no ill will. But when I am faced with a similar decision to exercise my rights or to show mercy, I hope I will show mercy.
I was in my car heading home for work on Thursday night, on my way to a birthday dinner for my stepfather. A dinner I would never make it to.
At the entrance to the freeway, traffic was heavier than normal. A few cars were sitting there waiting to enter the highway (Oh, how I hate stopping on the acceleration ramp). As I approach, the mini-van in front of me begins to roll. I take a quick look over my shoulder, the road looks clear. I look ahead, and the mini-van is still there! WHAM! I smack the mini-van at about three miles per hour.
We get out of our vehicles, I’m alone in my car, there is a couple in a rented mini-van ahead. Everyone’s OK, there are no injuries, so we inspect the vehicles. My car is fine. I hit the mini-van’s bumper square with my front license plate. The numbers on the plate have transferred come of their paint to the back bumper and that appears to be it, but then, we find it. The scratch. There is a small scratch on the bumper of their rented mini-van.
So what do you in this situation?
I didn’t realize it at the time, my head was on other things, but this is where the grace comes in.
Here are the choices, and just to be clear, since they were the ones struck, the mini-van decides here:
1) Report the incident. After all, the rental company could hold the poor unfortunate people responsible for the scratch on the bumper. It could end up being a claim against them and their insurance. This has definite ramifications for the person in the car. Reporting the incident means the person driving the car will receive a citation and will have the incident reported to their insurance, which will most likely result in an increase in insurance rates. Best case, it will cost the driver of the car under a hundred dollars in fines to the government but no increase in insurance. Worse case, the fine is much higher, in the hundreds of dollars, and the driver of the car also has to pay higher insurance premiums for at least three years.
2) Decide the scratch is not worth while and continue on your way. The car's driver would not be under legal obligation to pay for the damages if the rental company demands payment and his insurance company certainly wouldn’t accept a claim with out an accident report. They all could offer to work something out, but it would just be a gentleman’s agreement. In this case, the driver of the mini-van takes the financial risk. If the rental company decides to charge them and the driver of the car stiffs them, they are stuck with a bill for a problem they didn’t cause. Best case, no one is charged a nickel. Worse case, the rental company demands payment and the car’s driver stiffs the mini-van’s driver. So now he’s is stuck with the bill which results in either a claim on his own insurance, which may or may not end in increased insurance rates, or he pays a few hundred dollars out of his own pocket to fix the scratch.
So, if you were the driver of the mini-van and some dork rear-ends you, what do you do?
Or, more to the point, what does this have to do with grace?
We chose option 1. Well, more to the point, the folks in the mini-van chose option one. And believe me, I am not upset about that. It was certainly their right to do so. It was my fault for hitting them in the first place and they have a legal right to protect themselves from financial loss. I have no problem dealing with the consequences of the accident. (Other than that this has the potential of costing me a lot of money, but it’s my fault, I’ll deal with it). Sure, I wish the out come had been different, but I can’t be upset about anyone choosing to exercise their own rights.
It hit me later that night, however, that this is what grace is all about. Showing grace often means giving up your rights. Grace can be defined as forgiving a debt that another owes you. This is what the Lord did for us. We owe Him a debt. We have rear-ended Him and caused Him harm, through no fault of His own. But, instead of demanding satisfaction, instead of demanding His rights, He lets us drive off with nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement that we will try to make it right.
I will remember this when anyone owes me a debt. Not that the people in the mini-van are evil or mean for holding me responsible, it was their right to do so. I hold no ill will. But when I am faced with a similar decision to exercise my rights or to show mercy, I hope I will show mercy.
:lick: