He made me do it!

We can no more force someone to do something than we can bend a spoon with our minds, so why do we try?

This morning on the way to work I was in the slow lane of the freeway and noticed the distance between myself and car in front of me closing rather rapidly. Granted, I developed some bad habits navigating the 405 in Orange County daily, but I am not a reckless or dangerous driver. Almost as soon as I noticed the gap closing, I saw the red glow of brake lights in front of me. THERE WERE NO CARS IN FRONT OF THIS CAR! In other words, no plausible reason for the sudden slowdown. I became even more frustrated when I looked down at my speedometer to see "35mph". WHAT?!?! I looked up again at the driver (this all occurred in mere seconds) to see the man take both of his hands off the wheel and show me in a pantomime that he wanted more space.

I gave him more space all right. I changed lanes as soon as I could and left Mr.35mph in a cloud of dust on Highway 77.

The thought crossed my mind as I drove away, he was artificially trying to make me give him more space by slowing to an unsafe 35mph on the freeway, not to mention taking both hands off the wheel.

Why do we think we can manipulate people into doing what we want and at what cost and lengths will we stoop to?

I think we all have a little manipulation in us and it rears its ugly head every now and again whether we are conscious of it or not.

God never manipulates us. He knows we do so many things we shouldn't and need drastic intervention and yet, He stands by poised to catch us when we fall because he can't MAKE us do anything. I love the line from Bruce Almighty when Bruce is chatting with God about the "rules".

Bruce: How do you make so many people love you without affecting Free Will?
God: [snorts] Heh, welcome to my world, son. If you come up with an answer to that one, let me know.


In Psalm 139 it talks about the God who knows us better than we know ourselves. Even though He knows, God waits patiently, lovingly, and ready to catch us when we fall. I must admit, sometimes I wish he'd just slam on my brakes!


p.s. Just in case you were wondering, Yes, the man was an "older" gentleman. ugh! I hate when stereotypes are true!