Pizza and "F your Prius"
 


Two totally different encounters separated by less than three hours...they depict the differences in our
WONDERFUL but
SELF DESTRUCTIVE SOCIETY
 (both situations offer different opportunities to interject the "good news" of Jesus Christ)

PIZZA and PRAYER

It was a special day, our two daughters and three of our six grandchildren met halfway between Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL for a pizza and/or salad lunch. We meet like that quite often...rarely getting 100% attendance due to work schedules and activities

It was a beautiful day so we ate outside on the restaurant patio...

WONDERFUL

It was a beautiful site on the patio ...approximately 35 feet from us ...a Grandmother and her grandchildren plus another family all holding hands giving thanks for their food


We had our food and we're discussing WB's latest email newsletter " WHAT DO YOU FEAR"....
  16 people responded in the newsletter to my question regarding their fears. At our lunch table there were 6 of the 16....As I promised in the newsletter, I merely mentioned the response but not the person's name

As we were discussing the newsletter the grandmother walked by our table- I told her how beautiful it was to see them holding hands and praying...We talked and I gave her 2 wristbands....She then asked for a copy of the FEAR 
newsletter...
We both shared how our brief meeting BLESSED US and the encounter MADE OUR DAY!

OVERALL A WONDERFUL PIZZA EXPERIENCE...thanks be to the Lord! 



After we left the restaurant, as is our custom, we went to a local community center and some of us walked around a small lake as others relaxed on a bench

OF COURSE before we departed for home we also hit the local DAIRY QUEEN
for blizzards and had continuing fellowship. Our daughter Trinda, Mae Mae (17) and Joseph (15) then headed back to their home in Alabama. Tudi, our daughter Trisha, and Emma Grace (17) and I headed back to Atlanta.

The end to a special day?....

NO!!!



Atlanta is the highway crossroads of major interstates coming and going from all directions...Tennessee, 
Alabama, the Carolinas and Florida. 

As we drove back into the heart of Atlanta there are 
sections of 8 lane traffic going one way!



A MIRACLE HAPPENED 

As we were getting off the very busy interstate 75 onto another very busy surface street I saw a truck ahead of us that we had seen two weeks earlier parked in a Starbucks parking lot

I recognized it because of the sign on the back of his 
"souped up" impressive truck- it said...

"'F' your Prius"
(the first word spelled out)


Two weeks previous when Trisha and her family pointed 
out that sign to me in the parking lot...

I thought: 
"WHY???" 

I am a longtime Prius driver and the sign 
shocked and puzzled me...

I looked for someone coming toward the truck two 
weeks earlier...but no such luck

BUT THEN TWO WEEKS LATER...
there was the truck with the sign again...
Tudi was driving and I insisted 

"FOLLOW THAT TRUCK!"




Sure enough a few blocks later he was going for his coffee at Starbucks and into the same parking lot- 
4 cars away from where Trisha had left her car. 
The parking lot serves many businesses with at least 100 spaces 

I jumped out of our car and waited for the man to get out of his truck

He (about 40 years old) looked shocked 
as I  approached him and said: 



"I noticed the sign on your truck, I am a Prius driver and wanted to ask you about your sign


...it doesn't make sense...at a young age I drove a 2+2 GT Mustang...now at this time in
my life I drive a much more conservative car...a Prius!
BUT why the sign, and why Prius ???"  

I tried to show honest questioning- not anger or disgust..relying on the insight from Scripture "a soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger"  Proverbs 15:1

He smiled and said ...
"Prius drivers think they are better than anyone else, they cut in front of other drivers and seem arrogant..."

Again trying to show neither anger or disgust...I said,

"When I drove my Mustang and was an atheist I may 
have done the same thing." 
(Actually, no way re the sign...however as I remember  I did blow it often in different ways...so I could not throw the first stone!) 

I said, 
"I would like to give you a wristband to 
remind  you of our encounter...it represents my transition from an atheist to a believer..."

I then gave my one minute testimony...broken home 4 times, atheist, Pysch major, read the Bible for 2 weeks, discovered I was a sinner and needed a Savior...claimed Jesus Christ as my Savior...NOW growing in grace.

Last I said,
 "We come to this parking lot often so I/we 
hope to see you again" 

We shook hands and departed.


WITHOUT THE LORD ON A GROWING BASIS WE ARE A 
"SELF DESTRUCT SOCIETY "...
that goes for both believers and unbelievers

That statement may shock you-  but
A person who claims Jesus Christ as their Savior but does not obey and follow the teaching of God's Word...who does their own thing- is the MOST SELF DESTRUCTIVE PERSON there is...

In Revelation, our Lord hates the sin of the Nicolaitans ...who substituted the truth of God for the doctrines of men...
A modern example is living by what I think is right vs what God says, ie sexual sin (adultery is a sin) saying it is not a "problem" because "I think it is fine"...

Let's look at the truck sign again and notice on the other side of the truck window what he deemed funny to aim for while driving (it's hard to see, but motorcycles, elderly, bicycles, and wheelchairs)... I assume said in jest but when combined with the Prius statement...deplorable!

We live in a Society that is both 1) WONDERFUL...represented by the Grandma praying with her grandchildren while enjoying pizza
 and 2) the other...
OBNOXIOUS and DISTASTEFUL signs for all to see....

HOWEVER...
only by God's grace am I forgiven... I was bent on  SELF DESTRUCTION through self will. That was my life as an atheist...
living my life, my way and in accordance what I thought was right...





BOTTOM LINE:

Believers are called to represent Jesus in their daily walk and reach out to all people in most situations

...while having pizza or in a parking lot...encountering wonderful people and those bent on self destruction... it's our calling to reach out to all people 

*Give PRAISE for the Grandma 
*PRAY for the driver of the "souped up" truck 


Honestly- the key take away going forward for you and me
  • Is He both Savior and Lord of your life? 
  • Will you daily look for opportunities to "graciously" encourage and exhort people God puts in your path..including positive and negative situations

Ted
Acts  17:28..."where you, live, move and have your being"