The Law in the Rearview Mirror

Today, driving back from Pittsburgh on the Turnpike, was quite picturesque. The sun was shining, the sky was blue with puffball cotton-like clouds, and the tree leaves were colorful like crayola. It was a fine Fall day, I was almost in a reverie. Maybe a stupor.

My reverie came to a screeching halt as the Turnpike went from a 55 mph construction zone to 40 mph super-construction zone within seconds. As is the case on most Pa. roads, the Turnpike is in a perpetual state of repair. There is always construction somewhere, with the reduced speed limits, so that drivers don't pick up a spare highway construction worker. It is a serious issue. I had the sense to hit the brakes before I saw the cop car. I went from 65 to 40 probably in less than 25 feet, yet my deceleration hardly got me legal when I entered the 40 mph zone.

I was busted. The cop car pulled out and followed me like a shark. I was waiting for it to pounce. I had no legit excuse. If I had not been going 65 mph, I could have transitioned to 40 more fluidly. As it was, it was a hard-braking and that usually translates to too late. I was cop chum. I resigned myself to a ticket. The police officers just kept following. I surmised that they were waiting for a convenient place to pull me over, of just nipping at me, before swallowing me whole. To my complete surprise, the lights never came on. After about an eternity of two miles following me, the cops pulled off to wait for another more extreme offender. A bigger fish. Later I saw two tractor trailers pulled over. I had taken a rest stop to release my urinary adrenaline and in the interim, the trucks got trapped.   

God's Law is like speeding limits. There are good reasons to have limitations on the roads of life that we share. Only anal Germany can negotiate an open-ended Autobahn without automotive anarchy.  Then again, there is that Nazi thing. Think about sin, is it not often our effort to lessen the legitimate time of acquisition to have an experience or a possession? We want something, we steal it instead of working for it and earning it. We fornicate rather than engage in the costly time investment of marriage. Rather than think through our responses, we blurt out words recklessley and/or falsely. Moses murdered a man in a moment and spent 40 years waiting for the crime to be buried in the sands of time. It was more a manslaughter but it was still rash.

The police decided to make a point but not enforce the execution of the Law. I was in their hands and they bid me freedom.