It was definitely a dilemma. Twenty or thirty cars pouring out of a church parking lot and being stopped on a side street where the only exit was blocked by trucks and bulldozers. Other than retreating into the parking lot—and that opportunity quickly closed—we had nowhere to go. And no one working at the site appeared to have any clue how to maintain a flow of traffic. So we sat.
We had an hour-long lunch break in the middle of a packed conference schedule, and every single one of us in those vehicles was anxious to drive to a nearby restaurant, eat, and get back before the next session began. That plan was being effectively foiled by the crew members wandering around, one of them holding up a sign that said slow and one holding up a sign that said stop, both facing the same direction. Not a single workman appeared to be aware, or at least not the tiniest bit concerned, that traffic had been sitting there for at least twenty minutes.
Impatience grew, along with incomprehension at the mind-boggling incompetence of the work crew and a rising anger, helped along by hunger pangs and the relentless numbers changing on the digital clock on the dashboard.
Under normal conditions, it would have been incredibly tempting to lay on the horn or roll down the window and call out a strongly-worded question or opinion to a passing workman on what was happening and when we might be allowed to move.
The problem was, these weren’t normal circumstances. We weren’t in the middle of a highway surrounded by strangers. We had all spilled out of the parking lot of a building with a massive cross on the roof that towered over the entire neighborhood.
We are called to be salt and light in a dark world. Our words and actions are meant to set us apart, to be a witness and a testimony to those around us, and to glorify the God we worship. I can’t speak for the occupants of the other vehicles, but the temptation to do or say something that did not fit into any of the above categories was strong in those moments.
We are called to be salt and light in a dark world. – @sarajdavison Click To TweetThrough the grace of God, we all managed to rein in those baser instincts. No one honked. No one yelled. Eventually, we were all allowed to exit the court in a slow, painful trickle.
Of course, there was a lot of pressure to maintain our witness. The people in the cars behind and before us were the ones we had been sitting in the sanctuary of that beautiful church with that morning, and would be again in the afternoon. The motivation not to lose it on that construction crew was powerful, which helped to keep all of us in control of ourselves.
But it got me thinking. If circumstances had been different, would I have maintained that rigid control? Actually, it didn’t take me long to answer that. I have been in similar circumstances before—without the visible crowd of witnesses—and have not done quite as good a job at maintaining my testimony. And I absolutely should. Because, of course, even if no one else is watching, God is privy to all I do, say, and think. And if I am motivated to control myself when surrounded by human witnesses, how much more should I be when I know that God is watching?
I hope we were all salt and light that day. I’m pretty sure the work crew had to notice that no one gave them a hard time, in spite of the ridiculousness of the long, unnecessary wait. I pray some of them glanced over to see the building we were exiting out of and pondered the possibility that those two things were somehow connected. And I pray that the next time I find myself in a situation like that, I will “conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”, as Paul exhorted in Philippians 1:27, whether there are hundreds of witnesses around me at the time, or only one.
Sara Davison is the author of three romantic suspense series—The Seven Trilogy, The Night Guardians, and The Rose Tattoo Trilogy. She has been a finalist for ten national writing awards, including Best New Canadian Christian author, a Carol, a Selah, and two Daphne du Maurier Awards for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She is a Word and Cascade Award winner. She currently resides in Ontario, Canada with her husband Michael and their three children. The words on the mug she uses every morning pretty much sum up her life—I just want to sleep, drink coffee, and make stuff up. Get to know Sara better at www.saradavison.org and @sarajdavison.
She must choose between the man who represents the law and the one who may have taken it into his own hands. Neglected by her parents for most of her life, Nicole Hunter keeps everyone, especially men, at arms’ length. So when Attorney Gage Kelly walks into the diner where she is waiting tables one evening, she fights her attraction to him with everything she has.
Gage and his brother Holden grew up in an abusive home, and Gage has baggage of his own. But the connection between him and Nicole is too strong to ignore, and Gage manages to convince them both that their relationship is worth the risk. Then children begin disappearing in the night.
When Detective Daniel Grey starts to close in on the child snatcher, and enlists Nicole’s help, she faces her deepest fear. Everything and everyone she has clung to so tightly could be ripped from her, leaving her completely alone.
Except for one.
