The Rev. Cal Lord For The Bulletin

I looked out the window of the exercise room at the gym and thought to myself, Someone else has a car just like ours. I did a double take wondering if Lori had come by looking for me. Then I realized she didnt know where I was.

The fact that our van is 14 years old makes it stand out. There is no mistaking it. There just arent too many of them left on the road. So what were the chances that there would be a similar one out in the parking lot?

Still puzzled by the mystery, I looked out about a half an hour later. It was still there. I glanced over to where I had parked the Prius and I couldnt find it. Thats when it dawned on me that the mysterious van was ours. I had the van today.

Call it a senior moment. I was glad I hadnt mentioned it to anyone. How could I forget something like that? Seems so silly. Thats when it hit me that this wasnt the first time I jumped to a wrong conclusion on something I had seen.

I think a lot of us are prone to do that. Whether it is something weve seen on Facebook or some event we witnessed first-hand, we make a lot of assumptions about what we are seeing. We develop motives, see rationales and assess guilt.

It is easy to make snap judgments. The problem is that they are often wrong. We dont have all the facts. We only know part of the equation. We fill in the blanks with information that helps define our own narrative.

God tells to be slow to anger. He tells us to hold our tongues. He says not to judge. He calls on us to forgive and turn the other cheek. He challenges us to have humility. I wonder what would happen if we approached life like that?

I think there would be more room for conversation, for true understanding and for the peace and love of God to filter through all of our relationships. The world needs that now, more than ever. So hop in. Ive got a van. Lets change the world together by embracing Gods way.

God bless! See you in church.

The Rev. Cal Lord, of Norwich, is the pastor of Central Baptist Church of Westerly. Reach him at calstigers@gmail.com.

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