Once upon a time, a wise man once asked a wise question – “Where have you seen Jesus this week?” (OK fine, it was Alan Liu during I think a Sunday school lesson or WAY sermon) When I first heard it, I had no good answer. Why, I mused, everything action that’s good and kind is supposed to remind me of Jesus, no? But it was only a few days ago that I truly discovered an answer that truly impacted me.
I was driving to the doctor’s clinic as usual to volunteer. I was in a pissed mood for the past week, because of various slights and annoyances that, coupled with the hot weather, pushed me past my usual temper limit. I happened to get stuck behind a slow red Chevrolet pickup. For the first minute that I was stuck behind this driver, I took it easy, staying behind him with just a teensy bit of pressure to speed up. By the second minute, I was starting to get annoyed. I made multiple attempts to cut past the slow driver, but the cars in the other lanes were uncooperative. I eventually managed to cut past him and zoom away, much to my satisfaction. To make up for lost time, I made a left turn even though the light had just already turned red. I planned to turn into the centre lane to save time instead of the left-most like most safe drivers are supposed to do, only to run into… a police car setting up a barrier. In that moment, I was SOL and was at the mercy of the other cars to let me into the only open lane. A couple of cars passed me, sneering at my predicament. I could almost hear them thinking “Man, what an idiot driver. Serves him right.” I sat there fuming, but meh, what could I do except wait it out?
Lo and behold, one car finally stopped so I could merge into the lane. And which car was it? The slow Chevrolet of course. The thing that surprised me so much that I had to blog though, was that he was so gracious about it. Despite being aware of the fact that I was the punk Chinese teenager that was semi-tailgating him for the past 10 minutes, both on the highway and the city roads, he was offering me a way out, with no hard feelings (that I could discern on his face anyway). That was truly, truly an act of mercy. He could have easily sped past me, giving me a smug look along the way, but instead he chose to turn the other cheek. And for that, I was truly touched.
So even though you will never read this, Mr. Chevrolet-truck-driver, I want you to know that you reminded me of Jesus this week. Thanks. We find God in the oddest of places, don’t we?
