I’m sitting here this morning unsure of what to do.

Last night my car got rear-ended. It wasn’t a big hit; there are no aches and pains resulting from the jolt.  

But the guy who hit me doesn’t want me to report it … he doesn’t want the demerit points.  

There’s a big part of me that wants to be nice and make it easy on the guy. But there is another part of me that wonders if I will be screwed over if I don’t report it and go through the regular channels.

If the accident had have happened on a weekday, I would be getting an estimate right now and calling the guy, asking how he is going to pay for it all. But it’s the weekend and I don’t think I’m going to find a collision shop that’s open.  

Plus, I am going away for a couple of days at the first of the week and that will delay an estimate even longer. 

I’m thinking time is of the essence. I have to know if this guy is going to pay for my car to get fixed or if I need to just report it and have the insurance worry about it.

As it is right now, the latch closes on the trunk but it doesn’t lock. The screen on the dashboard constantly shows a picture of the trunk being open.

I don’t want to be mean, but I don’t want to get left holding the bag, so to speak. 

I think I will try the dealership where I bought the car to see if someone there can give me an estimate of the cost. Then I will visit the guy who cuts my hair – he’s a real car guy. I’ll get him to take a look at it and see if he has any advice.

Other than that, I really feel in limbo right now. I’m a little nervous about waiting too long if I am going to report the accident. And I’m nervous about trusting this guy to come through.

He seemed so matter-of-fact about everything – like he’d done this often and it’s no big deal.

He said he was sorry but it was one of those sorries where you see the lips moving but are not sure there is any genuine feeling behind them.

It was almost like this was an inconvenience to him, and he wanted to wrap things up quickly so he could get to whatever he was going to do.  

In reality, there wasn’t much inconvenience to him at all. I doubt that there was any damage to his vehicle. He was driving a Jeep with big bars protecting his grill.

All the inconvenience is mine. If I don’t report this and he jams on me, this will be way beyond an inconvenience. I really need to make the right decision today.

Here’s the thing: Many times we act like the guy who hit my car. With sin, we are the ones at fault, but we act like it’s no big deal, and that it’s just an inconvenience to us. In reality, it was an inconvenience for Christ to go to the cross to pay for our sin. When I say “inconvenience” for Him, I mean way beyond inconvenience – a million times more. So when we sin and feel like it’s a minor infraction, think again at what it cost Christ to rectify that minor infraction for you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How would you assess your attitude to God when seeking His forgiveness? Leave your comments and questions below.