Charitable Driving

I just finished small group and arrived home a few minutes ago. In tonight's study, from The Peace Maker by Ken Sande, we discussed "speaking the truth in love." One tangible example listed is making "charitable judgments about others" which includes giving someone the benefit of the doubt and hearing what they have to say. This seems easy enough in theory, right? Well, funny how theory gets tested...immediately!

As we are in the middle of rainy season, visibility while driving can be limited. Add to this, driving at night with dark windows. Then add potholes, other cars driving with no lights and streets with no street lamps. Therefore, in order to arrive safely, it's necessary to use one's brights.

While driving along, say at 45-50 mph, a car sloooooooooowly pulls out in front of my car, crossing an empty lane all to himself to cut me off. Now, I have the choice to APPLY charity and even an "I'm here honk", instead I instinctively lay on the horn in annoyance. Mostly because of his lack of safety--less than 5mph and no lights. Immediately following my rudeness, I was hit with a quiet reminder..."Charitable judgments".

Hmmmm...did I show this drive the benefit of the doubt? Did I take into consideration that he too was fighting all the driving conditions while having no headlights? Yet, God has a sense of humor, to keep us humble. Within a minute, I was forced to swerve out of my lane because of debris from the rain. I quickly realized that I would expect other drivers to show me understanding as I swerved. How easy it is to expect others to give you the benefit and be quick to withhold it!

What if we postponed our assumptions and decisions about others until we had all the facts?