476 Clothman Verses Brutus
I was in the left lane of a four-lane road surrounded by rush hour traffic when a pick-up in the right lane behind me violently swerved and slammed on its breaks causing the car behind it to nearly plow into its bumper. Seconds later a tiny red car appeared from in front of the swerving pick-up and darted into my lane forcing the car behind me to swerve.
As the puny car zoomed toward my bumper I was stunned to see it was being driven by a scruffy faced brute who was half the size of his itty-bitty vehicle. What’s more, there were three other large dudes in the dirty, dinted car with him.
I sized up the situation and predicted that Brutus was flying up behind me in order to squeeze into the narrow gap between the two cars beside me. A second later he did just that and was next to Clothwoman who was setting in the passenger seat of Magellan, our Ford Explorer.
I knew exactly what Brutus’s plan was. He was going to keep his throttle floored and then cut in front of me so he could continue his insane slalom through the thick traffic.
“That clown in the red car has caused nearly four accidents in just the last 30 seconds,” I told Clothwoman pointing to Brutus. “He’s planning to cut in front of us next but I’m only going to give him enough room to tease him.”
I pushed Magellan’s accelerator and closed the gap. When Brutus hit his brakes a smirk of satisfaction settled across my face. Brutus’ eyes looked at me in anger from his side mirror.
We continued like this for a minute when suddenly Brutus shot his dinky little car directly in front of me with no more than inches to spare. Brutus’ back seat friends looked up at Magellan with eyes the size of pizzas and Clothwoman let out a scream. Brutus shot his hand out the window and flashed me a beefy, middle-finger salute of victory.
Just then, from my higher view point, I saw the traffic changing and realized that Brutus had blown it. I quickly switched lanes and to my great delight passed him on his right. However, the light ahead turned red and it was obvious that Brutus and I were going to be stopping beside each other – much to Clothwoman’s discomfort.
“Don’t worry,” I said to Clothwoman, “this guy is like a dog that’s only tough if we act afraid of him. I bet if I pull up beside him he won’t even look at us.” Sure enough, I stopped Magellan directly beside Brutus and he acted as if we didn’t exist.
That’s when Clothwoman called me out. “Don’t you think it’s odd that you can predict exactly what that guy in the red car is going to do? It seems to me that the two of you think a lot alike.”
Ouch! I suppose that’s what Jesus was talking about when he said, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults – unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. …Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor” (Matthew 7:1-5).
The light turned green and Brutus floored his little red car. Already floored by reality, I eased into Magellan’s throttle and let Brutus speed away.
Glen Moyer, pastor of High Point Adventures in Missoula, MT. Contact him at: www.Clothman.com, PO Box 3561, Missoula, MT 59806 or (406) 549-7722.
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