I was driving along minding my own business this week when I came up to a red light. I had to turn right and so I was watching the cross traffic as well as the truck in front of me. The truck started to pull out into the cross street and I slowly followed while looking to the left to see if I could also enter the street. What I didn't see was the truck in front of me stopping, apparently deciding there was not enough room or time to enter the street. When I looked back it was too late and I ran into the back of the truck. Crunch!
Let me give you the sequence of thoughts running through my mind at this time:
"What is the world ... how did I let that happen!"
Stunned silence in my mind.
"Not much done to her truck, why don't I just take off. She won't get my plate"
"This is a rental car, I can just say it came that way."
"Maybe the rental car company won't notice."
Out loud I ask the driver: "Are you all right?"
"She's fine, I can just take off now."
Out loud I say, "Why don't we pull out of the street and park over there!"
"I can just take off now, she won't be able to catch me!"
We park.
"It was my fault but what can I say to the police to make it her fault, or at least both our faults."
"Oh, man, all the hassle with the insurance and rental car company ..."
"I can still just take off!"
The police arrive and I open my window to talk to him. He hands me a form to fill out describing the accident.
"I can lie on this thing, I can say it wasn't my fault it was all her fault!"
"How can I craft this thing so it is better than it is?"
I hand the clipboard back to the officer and I see the truck take off. The officer hands me a ticket for following too closely and I am left with a mountain of paperwork for insurance and the rental car company.
Tell me I am not alone. Tell me that all of us have these kinds of things running through our head as we run into the accidents of our lives. Tell me please! The difference, I believe, is giving in to those voices in your head. If I had run away from the accident or lied to better my situation, THEN I would have crossed that line where temptation turns to sin. That point where wrong thinking becomes wrongdoing and that make all the difference.
"I did it! It was my fault!" I told the officer, insurance company and the rental car company and everybody who asked. That little voice in my mind is a little quieter today.