My first car was a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle.
With a strong tail wind, rolling down hill the top speed of the Beetle was about seventy-five. At the speed, the sewing machine doubling as an engine was whining. The other endearing feature of the Beetle was the ten gallons of gasoline in front of me. For those of you who have forgotten, or never knew, the gas tank was in the front, the engine in the rear. I put 175,000 miles on that car. It was such a simple vehicle. I think we would call it utilitarian.
My current vehicle is not so simple. First, my car nags me. Every 5,000 miles, the vehicle demands service. If you delay, the messages about service become more demanding. The car beeps at everything. When I pull into the carport, the car beeps at the poles holding the roof up. The car beeps at the fence that makes a natural barrier to the backyard. In the morning, the car beeps to tell me to check both ways before continuing to back up.
If I leave the settings in place the car beeps at me if I do not signal before changing lanes on the highway. The car has politically correct cruise control, which will slow down based on how close I am to the car in front. Thankfully, I can set it to old fashion “aggressive driver” cruise control.
I have already told you about the navigation system that went around the town square of Benton, Illinois three times at 10:00 p.m. a couple of weeks ago. I still have not figured out what happened there.
My car is a genius. It is a marvel of modern automotive technology.
The other day, I discovered that my genius car got a ticket in Gibsland. I have no idea who was driving the car. I received greetings from the Gibsland metroplex with a picture of the car, speeding away. Actually, I received greetings from the ticket vendor, and I want to know what percentage of the ticket the village actually collects, but I digress. So officially, my car received a ticket. But who was driving the car? We will never know! It was one of those traffic camera tickets. I know that the Gibsland authorities are not interested in vehicle speed or public safety, this is an income stream for the village. In Gibsland, the photo tickets are produced by a human being, who sits within one hundred feet of three different speed limit signs. Decorum keeps me from saying what is really in my heart. I can say it is bovine scatology.
I can’t figure out if I should ground my car or not. Should I take privileges away from my car? What is the punishment for my car? Since the ticket was issued to a vehicle, should the car pay for the ticket? And if the car is slow in paying for the ticket, what punishment comes to the car?
A car is responsible for a speeding violation. You know better, don’t you? It is like blaming your sin on an inanimate object. At our core we know, we are responsible.
There is a solution to our sin problem. His name is Jesus.
