In California, pedestrians rule. The pedestrian always has the right of way in a crosswalk. The minute you put your foot in a crosswalk, you are protected by the law. All cars must stop.
I was driving near my home on Pacific Coast Highway when a lone pedestrian stepped into a crosswalk right when it required me to lean heavily on my brakes in order to stop in time. He was a tall, capable young man who was either totally aware of what he was doing, or simply not paying attention. He was definitely old enough to be a driver and had he been thinking like a driver, he wouldn’t have stepped into the street at precisely that moment.
Especially when I was the only car around as far as the eye could see in either direction. And then he did something that tested my good sensibilities to the max. After making me slam on my brakes to stop, he sauntered. That’s right. Sauntered. I sat there watching him slowly make his way across four lanes and never once acknowledging me, and something started to boil inside.
Put yourself in my place and ask yourself: what are your feelings about this guy right about now? If you’re anything like me, they’re not very kind.
Do you have anyone in your life that could be that guy in the street–someone who appears to be purposely making life difficult for you? What are you going to do about that? Run him over? (It did cross my mind.)
Jesus calls us to love our enemies and return good for the evil done to us. Who can do that? What degree of human will would make that possible? Actually, none. Jesus even said this kind of love was humanly impossible — that it would take someone born of His Father in heaven to do this. Well… there you go.
We’ve all got difficult people to love. Go to God. He’s the only one who can show you how to do this. After all, He is the expert, you know.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
John Fischer The Catch 
Dear John
I am mighty blessed by your writings – most days – and I thank God for you and your family and the ministry He has given you to exercise for Him.
Today, though, I realise that I am often that person who saunters across the road. It’s never done on purpose, to annoy you or to assert my “rights”, and I am old enough to be a driver. But at the moment I have a lot on my mind. My husband has been diagnosed with lukemia and today he goes for bone marrow biopsy, and I am not ready yet to let him die. But I want God’s best for him. So, sometimes my mind is somewhere else. Sorry. BTW I can’t drive. There are a few of us!
Or possibly it’s my son who saunters across. He’s old enough to drive, too, and to be considerate towards others. But for the last 20 years, since he turned 9, he’s been loosing his vision and now sees through a narrow tunnel and after 2m everything is just light and dark.
It may even be an angel that Father has sent to you to give you a heads up about something that’s making you boil with anger or discontent inside you.
We’re not talking here about “enemies” needing forgiveness – just ordinary saints loved by God who share the same bit of road as you.
So next time it happens, take time to thank Father for that sauntering soul and bless him in Jesus’ Name. After all, you are related.
God bless and keep you and Marti and Chandler,
in love
Sandra
You guys are so beautiful. So quick to identify with the other person. What a good example you are.
This same thing happened to my sister John, only she was the pedestrian. The driver was not able to stop in time and hit her. She received multiple lacerations and and broken bones (leg and arm), but she lived. What the driver did not know was that my sister has a mental illness (schizophrenia) and was having a bad morning in her head and was not paying attention to her surroundings. She has explained to me what it is like to be in her head during these moments and I would not wish it on anyone. Maybe this was the case for that young man that morning. I am glad that you were able to stop in time.
This is exactly where we will go next. What we don’t know about what is really going on. Thanks for this example.
Hi John,
I really like how you use the incidental events of daily life to spotlight how God is continuously at work in our lives. Your story amplifies our complete dependence on the force that is at work within us all. This young man’s timing was actually perfect in revealing more of God to those whose paths he crosses.
Like you and others, I too get frustrated and am not generous at all when things don’t go my way. But when I am willing to divorce my ego from a situation/person, I always find peace because in that moment of yielding I am reminded of who is really at work within us all.
Our Source is truly love in its purest form.
Your readers comments were a blessing to me….I must confess I might have reacted the way you did initially. They were gracious and they humbled me.