I've been sitting at this computer for the past thirty minutes with my most recent speeding ticket in front of me, desparately trying to figure out how in the world to learn more about the steps I need to take in order to put this thing behind me, both physically and mentally.
"But D.O., we didn't thought the last speeding ticket you received was your sophomore year in college?"
Well yeah, you would have been right if you'd have asked me that at Lauren's wedding. After leaving Brooke at the airport and crying all the way down 360, I-20, and on to 35W, I went ahead and got pulled over in the God-forbidden city of Marlin, TX. I was going an unacceptable seven miles-per-hour over the posted speed limit. A disgusting 77 in a 70.
WHO GETS A TICKET FOR THAT?
I'll tell you who doesn't: the girl in Brenham with whom I am working who got pulled over for going 17 over the speed limit and left with a warning. Too bad I wasn't taking three black ladies to church when I got pulled over...
I, in my rattled state of being issued a ticket, went ahead and signed on the line saying that I would appear in court before a judge before the stated date. I thought surely there would be some way to get around that, and if nothing else, that there would be an online resource that would provide the answers I needed.
Well, apparently Marlin, TX's Police Department is all but unaware of what most people call the Internet. They have, however, completely mastered the age-old art of allowing their phones to ring until the answering machine (that doesn't tell you whether or not you are actually leaving a message) picks up informing the caller of their ridiculous hours, and indirectly sharing the fact that said caller will never really be able to contact the courts save a trip back to the wretched town.
"Why do you need to get this ticket behind you so soon?"
Well, it boils down to the fact that I'll be gone the entire last week of my grace period. I'll be a little busy relaxing and enjoying God's creation and His people at a wonderful place called KAA. I'm real pumped about this camp for inner-city folks. I'll fit right in.
Okay, sorry for the long, ranting, whiny post... and for the lack of a photo of the officer who pulled me over.
6.27.2006
Marlin to Missouri
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9 comments:
Ahh Pants, D.O. I hate that you got a ticket. If it makes you feel better, Aaron got a ticket yesterday too...but he got his dismissed.
Lots of love from the Hendricks...
sorry d.o.
poo on tickets.
jess and my sister and i got pulled over in Tyler.
lame.
did you cry to the officer?
i've heard that helps.
i cried once.
it got me nowhere.
d.o.,
sorry to hear about ticket.
please realize that the following comments are not ment to sound unsympathic with your situation, but in my 35 years in blue, i've written thousands of tickets but always because some violated the law.
if possible, for a moment forget the ticket, i can guarantee you that merely driving the boring speed limit has its advantages.
not only does it assure you not to have the inconvenience of being pulled over in a "speed trap" communities like Marlin, Texas, but you can arrive at your destination in a much better frame of mind.
as a college grad, do the math -- doing 77 vs. doing 70; does it make a significant amount of difference in arrival time? no!
in our minds we have the mistaken ideal that by speeding we get to our desired destinations much faster. if your piloting jet figter or the space shuttle, speed can make a difference. but, when driving relatively short trips by car the time is minimal. if sound reason is insufficient, then remember this -- it's the law! please, don't think that i'm being to simplistic but -- if you don't like the consequences of speeding then -- STOP speeding. driving the speed limit may mean a few extra minutes to any trip, but let me suggest that you invest those moments doing something monumental.
use those extra moments in your trip as an opportunity to talk with the Father in prayer. the dividends of using those extra precious moments in prayer can make an eternal difference both in your life and the lives of others.
for example, use the extra time to talk to the LORD about the kids you're working with this summer-- pray for their salvation, pray that they will genuinely make HIM Lord of their lives; pray that by their personal relationship with Christ they will escape the streets where the devil rules. ask the LORD about what's next down the road in your life -- ask HIM to prepare you for that task. ask HIM to mold you into the kind of usable servant that HE will use to reach a lost person today for HIS glory.
there are a lot of things you could do with those extra few minutes, and i promise you the benefits of spending a few moments of "alone time" with CHRIST is a much better deal than being stopped by some "speed trap bandit"-- who by the way Christ died for also.
back to the ticket, don't forget to take care of the ticket. you think that being stopped for speeding is a bummer; being stopped again and jailed for an alias ticket warrant, having your car towed, and facing the additional fine for failure to appear charges on the initial ticket is much worse.
maybe, being stopped by the "speed trap bandit" was God's way of getting your attention --saying, "D.O. slow down, man. your so busy rushing around that I've not been able to get your attention. I've been speaking but you've not been listening. I want to spend these extra moments with you to perpare you for something special today."
that may sound absurb, but, number one on God's list is a personal relationship with us -- that is evident by the extreme price HE paid at Calvary. i've found that God will use whatever means necessary to get our attention about those things which are important to HIM.
life is filled with paradoxes -- one paradox that i've learned the hard way is that God desires... no demands our attention, and HE will use a gentle whisper but if we ignore HIS voice, HE will use whatever means necesary to get our attention.
we chose the means HE uses -- HIS gentle voice or whatever means necessary. those of us who are hard headed usually require the "whatever means necessary;" it's stupid, but amazingly we think that it is much more spiritual to have God break us before we bend our knees.
the Christian life is a journey or adventure with Christ. for some reason today we've made it a burdensome task by rushing around doing a bunce of stuff ignoring the most important.
we tend to get so busy and so rushed that we hussle around accomplishing very little. why? because we are trying to live the Christian life in our own strenght -- which is not God's design. HE never asked us to rush about doing a lot of good stuff for HIM -- HIS WORD calls those things as wood, hay and stubble which by the way are very flammable.
HE, however, has reminded us in HIS WORD that HIS number one priority is on us having a personal growing relationship with HIM.
nothing we do today is more important than spending time with HIM. absolutely nothing!
most of what is done today by most Christian supposedly "for God" is meaningless, because it is merely done by our human effort usually for our glory. "look at what I did for God today."
it's all vanity of vanities.
frankly, according to the Bible it makes Jesus want to puke.
so, D.O., move on. Getting a ticket for speeding when you admittedly were speeding is not the end of the world. but the end of the world is coming.
i believe that we live in the generation when CHRIST will appear in the clouds just as HIS Word promises.
So learn from this experience which was the result an error in judgment on your part -- i can do 77 in a 70...it doesn't matter.
REMEMBER, God loves you, and so does your old uncle by the way.
in fact, HIS love is so marvelously unconditional and awesome -- beyond the ability of our i.b.m.'s {itel bitty minds} to fully comprehend.
D.O., GOD HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE-- the only question is.... are you willing to walk the path HE sets before you to experience it?
d.o. your uncle stan is a blessing. what a wonderful and thoughtful response. i was just going to tell you to never go to marlin again...ever...but that would be just avoiding the confrontation...go with uncle stan...he knows what's up...
Yeah, Matt's right. Uncle Stan is the man...
I like Uncle Stan.
statistically speaking, boys get more tickets and girls get more warnings. now... this is based on brooke's stats. i tried looking up some real percentages online, but decided that was dumb and i had better things to do. buuuut, maybe uncle stan can help. do girls really get more warnings instead of tickets??? if we do, i don't mind at all. however, d.o., i hope you figure this marlin police dept thing out. i bet some of those officers are really nice. i say you make a fun little trip back to marlin... you could go antique shopping, make some new friends, or eat ice cream!
i'm so jealous you get to go hang out at KAA! I love reading your posts and catchin up on your life...i can't wait for your next post.
another cheer for uncle stan...
at first i thought his "years in blue" might have been a reference to a baseball umpiring career...
but context clues tell me otherwise.
For those who don't know D.O.'s Uncle Stan has been a cop for almost 35 years in Dallas. But more importantly, he loves Jesus and has served as a Bivocational pastor in a country church near Mineral Wells, TX.
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