Rookie Rollin’
Someone has apparently decided I'm their ongoing prank project.
Just about every Sunday, I find some sort of little rubber toy waiting for me. Sometimes it's sitting in my chair before worship. Sometimes it's on the hood of my truck. Or hanging from the antenna.
A yellow rubber duck.
A dolphin.
A rubber hand.
A couple of things I'm still not even sure how to describe.
By now, I've accumulated quite a collection.
For a while, I spent some time trying to identify the culprits. But not anymore. I've gotten to where I look forward to it. Sometimes even thinking, “Hmm… I wonder what they have in store for me today?”
Then, just the other day, I came out of visiting someone in the hospital and noticed something stuck to the tailgate of my truck.
A magnetic sticker.
STUDENT DRIVER
I'm unpredictable!
I have no idea how long I'd been driving around with that thing on my truck. Come to think of it, I had been wondering why other drivers seemed to be giving me such a wide berth.
A few days later, I found another one.
STUDENT DRIVER
ROOKIE ROLLIN'
Standing there looking at that sticker, I found myself wondering how those little magnetic signs changed the way everyone responded to me.
Should we give him a little more space?
A little more patience?
And I'm sure some were thinking, "Ugh... look at this guy!"
All because of a sign I couldn't see.
I suppose we all walk around wearing signs. Most of them invisible.
Not warning signs. More like glimpses of what we're carrying.
If we could read them, they might say…
Please be patient.
Still grieving.
Carrying more than you know.
Trying again.
Doing the best I can.
Maybe, in a way, every one of us is still a student driver.
We’re Rookie Rollin’.
Rollin' down the road, still...
missing a few exits…
taking unexpected detours…
drifting into someone else’s lane…
making the occasional U-turn…
waving people ahead of us.
Just trying to find our way.
We all do a little better when we give each other a little extra room.
Much love,
Pastor Gregg
