Repenting on the way to church

Some years ago, one of my friends spoke in church about the importance of obedience.  Even in our teen-age years he was able to help us apply gospel principles to practical affairs.  He pointed out how every Sunday he would have seen one of our church leaders driving by his house on the way to church except that all he could make out was a little white blur.  Obedience in all things, he taught.  This was back when he and I and other friends terrorized the neighborhood.

I notice this even today, and it doesn't matter how big of a population our church members represent or what geographic region we're in, the doctrine of "repenting on the way to church" holds true.  In fact, it's a universal Christian principle.  At least in America.  On our way back from our meetings, Trisha and I witness members of other faiths relying on the Parable of the White Blur as they head in the other direction.

It's an eternal principle, too.  Just this morning we saw a car pull up right behind us on the freeway, tail-gate us, pull around us and tail gate the SUV in front of us.  As all three of us merged into the exit lane, this same light blue Mercury Sable from Austin, Texas heading southbound on I-183 at 8:51 am taking the I-35 North exit (did you catch all that, Jeff?) almost manages to pass the SUV on the right before having to slow back down.

We counted how many times the car changed lanes and how many other cars it tailgated before arriving at church with us.  We even got a good luck at them stopped at the light.  It was an older couple with a wheelchair folded up in their back seat!  The irony is that we actually got to church before them, without breaking any laws or endangering anyone's life.

What I find funniest is that this isn't the only couple who does this on their way to church.  We saw a lady do the same thing one Sunday morning a few months ago.  She ended up having a part to play in the church services. 

Our favorite game, now, is to guess which cars on the freeway are going to church with us and which are not.  Invariably, the ones breaking the most laws end up going to the same place.  I guess it proves your faith more that God will forgive you if you leave at the last possible moment and arrive more literally like a bat out of hell, taken into the presence of God than to prepare in advance.  Being prepared isn't a real test of faith.

The best part of it is that we get to calmly sit and judge people for their misdeeds, and then think less of them for it during our church meetings.  It helps keep me awake.  Some call that a sin, I just call it a practical solution to a real-world problem.  I'm applying what I learned as a teenager.

I guess that since breaking the law doesn't really get you to church any faster then the moral of the story is that, if indeed the first ones to church get forgiven more fully, then we're still in the clear in the end anyways.