The other Sunday Ken and I drove away from our house in high gear – we were late for church and I was supposed to be singing that morning. Anyway, lickety-split we go up over the hill, down past the shopping mall, and put on the brakes at the bottom of the t-junction at Mulholland Drive where there was a car in front of us at the stoplight. The light was red and so we waited… after a short time, we both realized, “Hey, this light should have turned green by now.” I noticed the woman driving in front of us had not quite pulled her car up far enough to the crosswalk area in order to trip the light. So I said to Ken, “Just give her a little honk; she’ll move up,” to which he replied, “I can’t do that!”
The next thing I knew, Ken opened his door, hopped out, walked up to the woman and knocked on her window. I noticed him smiling as she rolled down her window. “Pardon me, would you mind moving up a bit to trip the light? That way it’ll turn green and we all can get going.” When he got back in, I asked if she said anything. “Oh yea,” he said, “she thanked me for being really polite about it. In fact, I think it shocked her.”
Within seconds we were on our way, and as we drove, I told Ken how grateful I was for his thoughtfulness to that woman. “Well,” he said, “I figure not many people do that these days, but I think it’s important.” And I told him it was very important, in fact it was very Christian of him. On the way to church we commented on the incredible lack of civility, lack of courtesy and politeness in our culture these days. I remember when I was in Tokyo, Japan, one of the largest cities in the world, we observed how no one honked their horns at each other, such as you would hear in New York City. We were told that courtesy and manners are a big thing in Japanese culture. I tell you, Los Angeles, California could learn a thing or two from those folks in Japan.
And we could learn a lesson or two from Proverbs 15:1 where it says, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” And there you have it. Our society is full of so much wrath and most of it could be dissipated if we would but offer soft words and kind actions.
It’s the Christian way to influence your community. It’s the way you can influence your neighborhood. People see a believer act kindly in the face of adversity… people see a Christian exhibit civility and it sets the standard for them, it shows them that they can pass on the kindness too.
Gentlewomen and gentlemen – that’s my husband, he’s a gentleman – believers in the Lord Jesus should be gentle – Galatians 5 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness and self-control. Especially at a stoplight.
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