My car did it!

In my post earlier today on my license plate, I made mention of resisting the temptation to flirt.

This got me thinking about something that I've actually considered for a while.

Why is it that when we're in a vehicle, we assume that everything done in the vehicle is actually done by the vehicle, not us.

We honk at people we'd never actually criticize - much less yell at - in public.

After an accident: "Well, my car just started skidding and it wouldn't stop."

Guys who would never so much as talk to a random girl in the mall will slow down, do a wink and nod, and keep going.

Why? Because the car did it.

This is wrong. It was this realization that helped me quit speeding. (Okay, I still go 5 over sometimes, but is that really speeding?) Realizing that what I did in my car was still me - not the Jeep - is why I don't flirt with random girls as we're passing each other.

My old car had a ton of bumper stickers on it. It was an 18-year-old thing that took me till I was 20 to get over. However, I never put a Christian sticker on the car. I didn't want anyone to see me do something and then say, "He just did that, and he calls himself a Christian? Would Jesus cut someone off like that, or weave in and out of traffic?"

Then it hit me: people should see Christ in me, even if I'm driving and all they see is my car. I'm controlling the car. What the car does, I'm telling it to do.

I still don't have a Christian bumper sticker on my car. I'd rather people already see Christ in me by the way I live than for me to have to shout, "If you couldn't tell already, I'm a Christian." (Nothing against Christian bumper stickers...that's just my philosophy.)

But I am more conscious of how I drive. Why? Because the car doesn't do it. I do it. What the car does, I'm doing, and what the car is doing should be above reproach.