Voices

Just Joe: Pet peeves

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Joe Ligon

Oklahoma Baptists’ Interim Executive Director-Treasurer @marlowpreacher

Recently I have been doing some self-evaluation. And I have discovered that I have a big problem— pet peeves.

One of my pet peeves is people who think they don’t have any pet peeves. Here’s what I have learned. You either know you have some pet peeves, or you are someone’s pet peeve.

Another pet peeve that has slowed my progress to perfection is that paper thin bacon some people fix. If your bacon is thin enough that you can see your wife through it, it’s just too thin. Although looking at the wife through a slice of bacon will always make her lovelier, you shouldn’t be able to see through your bacon.

Another pet peeve has to do with traffic. I don’t think I have ever had road rage. But I will confess to a little highway huffiness now and then, as well as an occasional twinge of interstate indignation. There are actually a couple of causes for this. One is drivers. If everyone else was as good of a driver as I am, there would be no problems. The other cause is road work.

I am not opposed to road work. I understand it is necessary to make our roads better. But why is it necessary to work on the road I am trying to drive on?

My biggest pet peeve, however, may very well be a combination of drivers and road work. Imagine with me for a moment that you are driving down the interstate no more than four miles over the speed limit because everyone knows the police won’t stop you for going four miles over. Then you see that orange sign that arrogantly announces there is road work ahead.

Now that sign may be 5 miles or 52 miles from the work site, but the announcement has been made. And then the next sign announces the left lane is going to be closed, and you need to move into the right lane.

Of course, all the rule followers grudgingly move into the right lane. And so the slow ride begins. Then it happens. Some big, white pickup comes barreling down the left lane.

You know the driver is snickering at the rule followers. You know he is listening to some sort of demonic music. You know he can see the warning signs about how the left lane is coming to an end. He just keeps speeding down that lane oblivious to the signs and to the rule followers who have now come to a grinding halt.

And you know that when that pickup gets to the end of the left lane, some soft-headed, tender-hearted rule follower in front of you is going to let him in the right lane. And that will delay my getting through the work zone by at least four to 11 seconds. You talk about a pet peeve!

And then, as the Lord is prone to do for me, He used what I was upset about to teach me a lesson. It went like this. There are a lot of people in this world speeding through life past sign after sign that says their lane is coming to an end. But they are making great time and enjoying the ride until they absolutely run out of a lane.

You know what happens next. One of those rule followers with enough grace and mercy lets that vehicle into the safe lane.

That’s really what the Great Commission tells us. As we are going through life, we need to do everything we can to get those who are in danger of running out of a lane into the lane we are in. We need to make room for them to get in the right lane even when it hinders our progress.

After all, that is the only lane that can get you where you really need to be. And we might be the only hope someone has to get in that lane.

Maybe I need to trade in my pet peeves for the grace and mercy someone else needs to get into the right lane to get through this life and into eternity. Well, maybe not the bacon pet peeve.

Sword & trowel: Hungry for heroes

Brian Hobbs

Editor of the Baptist Messenger @BrianGHobbs

The Marvel movie franchise recently released another summer blockbuster. The popularity of these and similar films suggests that Americans today are hungry for heroes.

There is reason to be encouraged about the rise in our appetite for fictional heroes. This “superhero boom” that holds appeal, especially to young people, shows that we all want someone to admire. We want someone to fight the bad guys in the epic battle between good and evil. Some of these movie characters often embody some of the most desirable qualities, such as truthfulness and courage.

At the same time, our appetite for fictional superheroes leave something to be desired. After all, they are not real-life heroes. If young people only admire fictional heroes and forget about everyday life heroes, we will have missed something significant.

Having recently read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, who served bravely in the military and also reinvigorated America at a key time in history, it is easy to see why generations have considered him an American hero.

American history is filled with many real-life heroes, men and women who made a tremendously positive impact. Not all of these heroes, though, are household names. They often come in more subtle roles: teachers, nurses, mothers, fathers, soldiers, pastors, first-responders or others.

We do not need people with a cape, but we do stand desperately in need of heroes today. In particular, Christians recognize we have as great a need as ever for spiritual heroes.

We read about such heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11 in the Bible. Some of the names you’d expect to see: Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses and David. Other names on the list are a bit more obscure, but no less inspiring, such as Gideon and Rahab.

The Bible upholds these outstanding individuals because of their faith. Later in Hebrews, the author talks about Christians finding examples to follow. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7).

Notice those words. “Consider”—to think about, observe or ponder. Then “imitate”—be like them, walk in their path.

Fortunately, the Lord always seems to be in the business of raising up heroes. He chose Christians like Augustine, Charles Wesley, William Wilberforce, Lottie Moon, Corrie Ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham and others to live out a faithful example that each of us can follow.

What’s perhaps even more amazing to think about is that the Lord used countless other people whose names we do not know, to advance the Gospel through the centuries.

Now while none of us will run faster than a speeding bullet or don a cape and fly, we can and should find heroes of the faith walking the earth today. We can discover them and be inspired by them.

Yes, we are hungry today for heroes. For heroes of the faith. Let’s ask God to raise up these men and women in our day, in our own generation, for His glory.